My Xenomorph
by Cheetar7
Summary: Kat was an 11 year old who thought her life couldn't get any worse, she thought it was boring, that is until the day the military came and creatures known as "Xenomorphs" showed up. She doesn't know what to do, until she finds a little Snake being chased by a marine. She saves it and takes care of the little critter not knowing that it will grow to be a Monster. *Slow Updates*
1. CH 1: Xenomorphs

**This story is on Wattpad, I'm uploading it to FanFic as well due to WP being annoying and changing things and for others to find it :P**

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It was just like any other day, going to school, going to classes, walking back home when school was over. It was boring... way too boring, the same routine everyday; until the day the Military came.

It was so sudden, they just rolled in and told everyone to stay in their houses. I stared out my window down at the military vehicles, my mom and dad had told me to stay in my room and not do anything. Understandable, considering I'm only 11 so I get into trouble pretty easily these days.

Our city was small and surrounded by woods, there was a little lake by our house that I loved to go swimming in when it was nice and hot out, I was an extremely good swimmer. I wanted to go outside right now, but it was far to dark and I couldn't leave the house with the military all over.

I stared at my clock, 8:30pm, I sighed knowing that the night will probably be boring. After two hours of lounging in my room I got up and walked downstairs to see my parents.

"Mom, Dad..." I could see them in the kitchen.

"Go back upstairs Kat," Mom snapped "I told you to stay there."

"But I want to know whats going on." I made it to the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"They never told us," My dad glared at me, giving me the 'listen to your mother' look "They said stay in the house." He opened the fridge to grab himself some food.

I grumbled and went to look out the kitchen window "Something has to be wrong, why else would they be here?" I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets.

My mom yelled "I said go to your room! I don't want to get in trouble for my daughter spying on the military." I could hear her walking, I knew she was walking toward me.

"No," I didn't want to listen to her I wanted to know what was going on, then I felt my mom grab my brown hair, she turned me around to stare in my greenish-blue eyes.

"Go to your room." She said it softer now.

"Don't grab me." I mumbled it, I wanted to bite her and run. I hated it when people grabbed me, it made me frustrated and annoyed. It wasn't the first time she had grabbed me though, I never liked to listen to her, one day she had said I was going through a "phase" but I ignored her, then she grabbed me by the collar, I had nearly slapped her that day.

My mother let me go, she was just about to open her mouth to say something then a massive creature burst through the window.

I fell over, not sure if it was the creature or if mom had pushed me to the ground. Glass was everywhere and I heard gunfire coming from outside, "Mom?" I heard screaming "Mom!?" I stumbled to my feet to see the black creature bite my moms arm. I stared at her and screamed in horror, blood was everywhere, not all of it from my mom, little bits of broken glass had cut my hands and knees.

My dad grabbed a nearby knife off the counter and stabbed the creature. It screeched and growled. When dad moved the knife away I noticed it was smoking and bits of it were falling to the ground. "Kat get out of here!" I heard him yell.

The military burst through the door, gunfire shredding the creature. It screeched and fell on top of my mom. She lay pinned beneath it shrieking in pain and agony.

"Mom!" I screamed trying to get to her, close enough to see her flesh dissolving to the muscle and bone beneath. I stared with shock and horror and began to breath heavily "mom?" I reached out to touch what was left of her face but was dragged back by a marine. "No!" I sobbed, screaming and kicking, "No!"

"I'm so sorry." The marine that held me carried me out of the house.

I tried to look around for my dad but my eyes were blurry with tears, "Da-" I choked on the words, I could barely breath.

The marine held me down trying to soothe me "Shhh, it's okay, it's okay" I knew he was lying, I kicked at him, my mother was dead and I was guessing my dad was dead as well. I didn't really know what was going on, everything was happening so fast, what was that creature? Where did it come from, and more importantly how did it get here?

After about five minutes of continuous sobbing, I ran out of tears, I sat still in the marines arms and stared at him, "Wha- What was that thing?"

"That's classified," He replied, "The only thing I can say it that they are dangerous."

I squirmed out of his arms and looked around, the military were shooting at things I could not see. My feet were freezing, but I didn't have time to grab any of my shoes or anything else to keep me warm, other then the jacket I was already wearing. I took a few wobbly steps towards a Tank, I heard about them at school but I had never seen one in real life, it was massive, camouflaged and had a huge gun on it.

' _How dangerous could these creatures really be, I know it killed my mother'_ I held back some more tears ' _but they can't be so deadly that you would need a tank to kill it-'_ That's when I noticed that there were more of the creatures, they were stalking and attacking the marines. I stared in shock, I'd seen blood and gore in movies and games, I thought I had seen it all but this was far too real. I turned and ran toward the forest hoping that it was something that would save me from the creatures.

The marine that had held me down chased after me "No don't!" he yelled " The Xenomorphs will get you!" Just as he said that one of the creatures leapt on him.

I screamed, looked away, and sprinted as fast as I could into the trees, the ground was cold and wet under my feet. ' _Xenomorphs, so thats what they're called...'_

I jumped over roots and pushed past branches. I ran for what felt like hours and stopped by a massive tree. I panted and cried and smashed my fists into the tree. "Why!? Why did this happen to me!?" I fell to my hands and knees and sobbed.

 _'I can make it through this, I can survive on my own_ , _I'm a survivor'_ I cried, and cried, until I knew I was in danger. I heard a noise from behind and looked to see where it was coming from, I just glanced for a few seconds and ran further into the woods. I stopped once I made it to another massive tree.

I stared at it, the tree was probably the safest place I could be at the moment. I looked at my surroundings to make sure that I was not in any danger, when I knew I was safe I climbed up the tree. I hoped that the so called 'Xenomorphs' couldn't climb, if they could this tree would probably save me for a few seconds. I was never the best when it came to climbing, I had nearly fallen three times but didn't give up, knowing that if I was to sleep on the ground I could get killed. I looked for any branch to hold onto to pull myself up, once I found a sturdy enough branch I stopped my climb and stayed on the branch.

I curled up for warmth, but it wasn't too bad outside, it was enough that I had to curl up but not enough that I was shivering. I hated August, it wasn't my favorite month at all, but at this moment I liked it.

 _'By the time I wake up everything will be normal, I'll be okay, and none of this will have happened, it will be another boring day of going to school and going to my classes'._ I closed my tear filled eyes ' _The Xenomorphs will be gone. The military will be gone. My mom and my dad will be safe. This is all just a nightmare'._ I cried myself to sleep.


	2. CH 2: Survival

Once I woke up it took some time to remember where I was, I was used to waking up in my nice cozy bed, but instead I was in a not so nice tree.

Before getting out of the tree I sat there. ' _What happened yesterday was real... All of it...'_ Now I knew it wasn't just a nightmare. I reluctantly climbed down and walked around in the forest, wondering how I would get home from here. I needed to pick up some shoes and food, I knew I had to, but I didn't want to go back.

Every time I thought about my mom tears ran down my eyes, it hurt, knowing that I'm probably the only one left. I had an older brother, but he hadn't come out of his room, he was still in there I think when the Xenomorph attacked.

I shook my head trying to get the image of my mom out. I stumbled on some tree roots and fell in the dirt, grumbling to myself as I got up, ' _Now I need new clothes too'_.

I walked off in the direction that I thought would lead me back home. The sun was beating down on me, I liked the warmth. It made it much easier for me to get stuff done, unless it was too hot then it would slow me down anyway.

I still couldn't recognize the surroundings. ' _Maybe the Xenomorphs are gone now, maybe the military killed them all'_ With that in mind I started to jog and before I knew it I was at a road. I looked side to side as I was taught to. I couldn't see any cars, I slightly recognized the place, the lake I loved to swim in was a few kilometers away. I walked in the direction of the lake, I could hear my bare feet taping the ground making that weird splat sound because of the mud that was on them.

It felt like it took forever to reach the lake. By now I knew exactly where I was, I could see my house with all the military vechicles by it, but no one was there, and everything was quiet. _'What happened?'_ I walked toward the house trying to see better, there were corpses everywhere, I tried to ignore them but every time I saw one I began to cry. I quickly hurried into the house, I yelped when I stepped on the broken glass on the floor and hopped up the stairs to the bathroom. I rinsed off my muddy and bloody feet, put bandages on the scratches and quickly rinsed the rest of me off.

Now dripping wet, I grabbed a towel and headed for my room, I kept looking around making sure no one else was around. Once I made it to my room I changed into some clean clothes, put on my jacket, grabbed my shoes from under the bed and headed down the stairs as fast as I could.

When I made it to the last step I heard a sound coming from upstairs. I didn't dare go back up, I just sat and put my shoes on, then I heard the noise again. I tried resisting my curiosity but it didn't work, I slowly went back up the stairs. "Roman?" I called for my brother hoping that it was him, "Roman, is that you?"

I breathed heavily and I could feel my heart beating against my chest, "Roman?" I asked again, my voice a bit shaky. I walked to his room, put my hand on the door knob and began to open the door. I was trembling so much that I could barely open it. I peeked inside but didn't see anything on the right, when I looked over to the left I saw a very tall creature standing there.

I held my breath. It's back was to me and it looked as if it was 6 feet tall. I could see the spikes on it's back, and the tail that wouldn't stop whipping side to side. It was breathing heavily too, then it turned. My eyes widened. _Xenomorph_. The Xenomorph opened it's mouth and raised it's claws, letting out a loud snarl as it lunged.

I shrieked as I saw it's diamond like teeth for just a second, then slammed the door on it. I could hear the beast screeching and growling as it slammed into the door. I ran down the stairs not looking back to see if it had broken through. ' _What was it doing in Roman's room?'_ I guessed that it had crawled through his window while I was rinsing off.

The Xenomorph screeched and snarled behind me. I ran even faster, using every single muscle I had to keep me going. I didn't stop, even when I was out of breath I didn't stop, I ran straight toward the woods. I could still hear the screeches, it sounded closer now, I yelped and screamed with fear knowing that I could get grabbed any second.

I made it to the forest and ran over the roots and mossy fallen logs. The Xenomorph snarled, as I turned to looked at it, it was having a difficult time getting past the big trees. I looked back in front of me, I felt light headed but I didn't stop running, I made it another six yards then collapsed to the ground. I panted heavily and quickly looked around. The Xenomorph had stopped 20 feet away from me, it was just standing there looking at me, not moving at all. I stared at the creature in front of me, it had six big fingers, an extremely bony chest, and a banana like head.

The Xenomorph opened it's mouth and a second pair of jaws slowly came out. Then it snarled/screeched and took off in a different direction.

 _'What was that about'_ I layed there, panting, and coughing, I whimpered as I got to my feet and slowly walked through the forest. _'Great, now I'm thirsty.'_

After a few more hours of walking around and thinking, I knew that almost everyone was dead in the city. There were probably a few others like me wandering around in the woods but I knew I'd probably be better off alone.

My legs were sore and aching from constantly running. I had run into what looked like a spider, but it was a light peach color, had a messed up tail, and was much larger than any spider I'd ever seen. The thing jumped at me and I ran as far and as fast as I could. Now I was just too tired to do anything, I laid down on the dirt ground not to sure what to do, I was guessing that it was around 3:30 or maybe 4:00 pm but I didn't know. _'I should've grabbed a watch.'_

I didn't seem to cry as much as I had earlier. I felt like I was used to living like this, even though I wasn't. I was used to camping for sure but not like this, this was survival. I tried to remember what I had learned from playing video games and watching Survivor Man and stuff. Only a bit of it came in handy at this moment.

I dug around in my Jacket pockets, I felt something so I took it out, it was a pen with a piece of paper tied around it. "Well this is convenient." I took off the elastic band that was holding it together and began to read it, "Note to self: Tell mom to buy me some more socks, most have holes in them"

 _'So much for new socks'_ , I grabbed the pen and flipped the paper to the blank side. I began to write down all the things I knew I would need: Food, water, a watch, a backpack, a flashlight, a lighter or matches, maybe something to use to sleep on. I smiled at the list.

I jumped up and tied the paper back to the pen and shoved them back into my pocket. I followed my own tracks back towards the city, this time I knew I'd be more careful.

I walked for what I think was two hours, it was slightly dark out, like sundown. I yawned.

"I lost the bastard."

The sentence startled me, I backed away into a bush and peered out to see who said it. There were two marines standing talking to each other. One was darker skinned than the other.

"What do you mean you lost him?" The one with the dark skin said.

"I can't see it anymore, the bastard crawled into the forest and now It's gone!" The other yelled.

I was tempted to run out of the bush, but I remembered what had happened with the other marines. I growled lowly and kept myself hidden knowing that I'm better off alone.

The marines began to pace side to side at the edge of the forest glancing at each other from time to time.

I moved my hands into my pockets, I felt something weird, it was slimy and extremely smooth. I held my breath and grabbed the slimy thing, I felt it wiggle and squirm. I looked at it, it was just a little snake, an ugly snake. It was pale'ish and had sharp teeth. I smiled at the little thing.

"Awww." I said with a whisper "You're kinda cute." I was lying to myself again, it was pretty ugly but slightly cute at the same time. I grabbed the little guy and held him close to my chest. I raised myself as slowly as I could and turned to run away from the marines.

"I've got movement!" One of them shouted.

I sprinted. I seemed to have a habit of running back deeper into the woods every time I saw trouble. The little Snake wasn't squirming anymore, it was calm and resting against my chest.

"Shoot it!"

I heard them fire their weapons, the bullets zipped past me. I ducked as I ran and jumped behind trees when I could, I didn't stop running until I couldn't hear the weapons. I stopped by a rock and leaned up against it. I looked down at the little snake.

"Hey little guy." I said with a smile, "You comfy?"

The Snake looked up at me and almost seemed to smile back, it had diamond like teeth like the Xenomorphs.

 _'Why were they after him?'_ I petted the little Snake on it's head "Snake," I said "I'm just going to call you Snake."

Snake nuzzled his head against my chest then slithered into my jacket pocket, I could feel it curl up inside. "You going to get some sleep?" I asked it "I think I will too," tears ran down my face, I had someone to talk to now, even though I felt slightly crazy for talking to it, "I saved you," I whispered "I saved you from the marines and now I have someone to talk to." I closed my eyes and yawned. "Goodnight Snake."

I fell asleep by the rock and waited for the morning to come.


	3. CH 3: Snake

I yawned and stretched as I woke up, I slept very deeply that night, my legs were a bit sore of course but I ignored it. I remembered that Snake was still in my pocket, I moved my hand to see if I could grab him but I couldn't feel anything other than the pen and paper.

"Snake?" I called, but he didn't pop up. "Snake!" I called again, he still didn't pop up. I sighed, all good things had to come to an end right? I stood up and slowly began to walk away, that's when I heard rustling coming from in front of me. "Snake?" I asked staring at the spot where I heard the noise from.

Snake came slithering out from under some leaves and looked up at me. His head was covered in blood.

"So you went to get something to eat." I picked him up noticing that he was a bit bigger than he was before, he looked a lot different too, he had very small arms curled against his body and no eyes. I probably didn't notice that last night because of the darkness.

Snake made a hissing sound as he slithered back into my pocket. ' _why does he have arms if he's a Snake? It might be a birth thing like some babies born with 6 fingers... yeah that's probably it'_ I heard my stomach growl and I whimpered.

"I should get some food too." I looked around, "Now the only question is, where do I go to get it?"

That's when Snake slithered up and twirled around my arm, his head was on my shoulder and he was looking to the side. "What?" I asked him, as he made another hissing sound. "You want me to go that way?"

He nodded slightly and I began to walk in the direction he 'told' me to go. The more I walked the more my stomach growled, so much that I clutched my belly as I walked. Snake noticed and rubbed his head against mine, I smiled at him and tried not to look like I hurt as much.

I walked for about ten minutes and was able to reach a small cabin, I gasped as I saw it and immediately ran to the door. I knocked on it to see if anyone was home. ' _I should just walk in, they might be dead by the Xenomorphs anyway'_ I tried the door knob and conveniently the door was open. I walked into the cabin and looked around.

"Hello?" I called. "I've been out in the woods and I need some food." No one answered. I looked at Snake and shrugged "Guess no ones home." I walked to the kitchen and opened the small fridge. There wasn't much there, the people that used to live here had grabbed most of the food and probably took off when they heard about the Xenomorphs.

There was a few canned goods like beans and corn. I went for my favorite, corn, I couldn't find a can opener so I grabbed a knife and stabbed at the can until it opened. I grabbed a spoon full and ate some. Cold. I hated cold corn but I was so hungry that I ate half the can in less then a minute.

I had stopped and took a spoonful to see if Snake would eat it. When I put the corn in his face he turned away and hissed. "Well okay don't eat it." I ate the spoonful and finished off the rest of the can. I went digging through the cupboards and was able to find a few plastic bags and cereal.

I felt Snake slither to get more comfortable on my shoulder. I patted his head before I grabbed the bags and filled them with some cereal, shoving them into my pockets for later and turned to the door to leave the house. "Time to go Snake."

Snake made a quiet screeching sound and bit my shoulder, it was enough to make me yelp but not enough that is caused blood. "Ahh! What was that for!?"

He screeched again and bit harder. I whimpered, "Stop it!" I swatted at him. Then I heard footsteps coming from the other room. I shut up and stood there staring at the open door. Snake seemed to have wanted me to shut up, he stopped biting me just as I got quiet. I took a step back and held my breath.

Snake was looking at the door too.

The footsteps got a bit louder, and louder, and louder, until I knew it was at the door. A Xenomorph peaked its head around and saw me and Snake.

 _'These guys are everywhere.'_ I was shaking now, the Xenomorph stepped forward and snarled.

I whimpered and stepped back again. Snake screeched and hisses loudly but the Xenomorph kept walking forward, but the more Snake screeched the slower the thing got. I slowly stepped to the side and tried to go around the Xenomorph, it stared at me the whole time. I didn't take my eyes off of it either, I was able to make it to the front door and open it.

Then the Xenomorph really started to get annoyed, it growled and screeched as it stepped forward.

Snake hissed one last time as I sprinted out of the door. The Xenomorph snarled and lunged but I was long gone by the time it got to the door. I was deeper into the woods now, running faster than I had ever ran before. I was laughing too, I wasn't to sure why.

Snake screeched with delight as I ran, the warm air hitting his head. I smiled at him and dodged a tree, and another tree. I stopped after a few more minutes of running. I sat on the ground with Snake now in my hands.

"We're even now," I nuzzled my face against him "I saved your life, and you saved mine." Snake seemed to grin at me, his diamond teeth glistening. _'Why didn't the Xenomorph attack me when Snake was hissing at it? He's definitely not as strong as them but the Xenomorph still stopped and didn't do anything.'_

I grabbed my cereal from my pocket and ate a bit of it. "Yea know," I said my voice a little muffled because of the food in my mouth, "I think I'm going to start liking the woods with you around." I said while petting his head.

He hissed his reply and nuzzled himself against me.

I ate for a few more minutes and put the cereal back into my pocket, I stood up and looked around "So..." I let snake slither back up to my shoulder "Where to now?"


	4. CH 4: What To Call You Now?

Snake and I were doing pretty well, having walked for about three or four hours. He lead me to places where I could grab food, we were now heading back toward the city again. I knew we were because I was beginning to recognize the surroundings, and I had noticed a lake which I thought was the one I liked to swim in.

"Can you swim?" I asked Snake.

He nodded and pointed his head back to the direction he wanted me to go. I obeyed and walked the way he wanted me to. I smiled once we made it to the edge of the forest and walked across a field. It was definitely my city, I could see all the military vehicles and all the tall buildings. I ignored them and continued to go where Snake told me to go.

It was still exetremely quiet, it bugged me but Snake seemed calm. I tried to be like him, calm, and paying attention to what's going on. "So Snake where are we going anyway?"

He looked at me, and hissed, it was a low hiss like he thought that was a stupid question to ask.

 _'Well it kinda was... cause he can't talk...'_ I sighed "Sorry." I walked past a bunch of human corpses and tried not to look at them. I lowered my head, and stared at my feet until I heard Snake growl. I stopped and looked up.

There were two Xenomorphs that seemed to be patrolling the place. They were both hissing and growling to each other.

I gasped and ran to the side before they noticed me. I ducked behind a building and sat there, glancing around the corner. "What do we do?" I whispered.

Snake slithered down my arm and out into the middle of the road, I went to stop him but was scared they would see me. Snake screeched and the two Xenomorphs came running to him, they stared down at him and hissed.

I sat there completely confused, I stared at the strange sight in front of me. A little Snake talking to two massive fully grown Xenomorphs that were listening it. Snake growled a few times and the Xenomorphs took off to the other side of the road.

Once they were out of sight Snake slithered back to me and slithered back up my arm. " You are one very magical Snake." I got back up on my feet and decided to walk through backyards and buildings knowing that it was probably safer then on the road.

 _'Well I know for a fact that no one survived the Xenomorph attack here, I wonder if the whole world is under attack by these things... Well... that might get interesting if it was. At least then I wouldn't be the only one alone in the forest talking to a messed up Snake.'_

Every time I took a step it felt like hours were going by, it was beginning to annoy me, I knew for a fact that I was going to need to grab a watch once we found one _. 'If only Snake could talk, at least then I would know where we're going and if it was close.'_

Snake bit my shoulder, "Ow!" I glared at him. He stared back at me then looked forward. I looked to see a massive Wallmart in front of my face, "I forgive you for biting me again Snake."

He nuzzled his head against mine and I chuckled. I walked into the store, I knew not to go looking for anything at first, I did a sweep of the store to make sure no Xenomorphs or other humans were hiding anywhere. It was really dark but my eyes quickly adjusted. Once I knew that it was safe I took out my shopping list and looked around.

I was looking through the kids aisle trying to find a good backpack, Snake had slithered down my arm and was next to me, he was looking at all the backpacks too. "See any good ones?" I asked him.

Snake looked side to side for a second then hurried to a black backpack.

I ran up to him and stared at the backpack "You like this one?" Snake nodded. "Well okay than, this is my new backpack." I grabbed it, took off the shopping tag, and put it on my back. I looked back at my list. "Hmm food, we need food."

I walked down some more aisles and looked for food that I knew wouldn't go bad for a long time. I sighed and looked down at Snake. "Candy seems like a good idea at this moment, nothing here lasts a long time or it needs to be cooked..."

Snake hissed and I followed him toward the cereal. Some said that they expired in a few months, others said they expired in a year. I grabbed all the kinds that expired in about a year. I put the backpack on the ground and shoved some of the cereal into it.

 _'Okay I got cereal, now I need more different food.'_ I walked into the meat aisle which seems to drive Snake insane. He ran into the meat and tore into it. I stared at him with puzzlement then walked away to the other food aisle. "You enjoy yourself Snake!" I called out as I stepped into the canned foods aisle.

I grabbed some more canned corn and green peas, I put them into my backpack, stared at my list, and went off to the electronics section. I picked up two flashlights and got some extra batteries. Then I started to look around for a decent watch. I found a black one with a silver rim and put it around my wrist, I was guessing that the time was correct.

After walking into several wrong aisles I found three lighters and a pack of matches, I put them into the smaller pocket of my backpack and finally went looking for a bunch of water bottles. "Snake!" I yelled to see if he'd hear me, "I'm almost done with the stuff! You better be done eating!"

I walked down a hall full of fabric and instantly stopped. I had to feel every single one I saw. Everything was super soft, I grabbed a 'blanket' and rubbed my face against it, it was so soft. I made sure it was big enough that it could cover my whole body then put it in my backpack.

My backpack was getting really big now, it wasn't really heavy but it took forever to shove my new blanket into it. _'Is this considered stealing...?'_ I ignored the fact that this was kind of stealing, I didn't think it really mattered because no one was running the store anyway. _'And this is survival.'_

I ran and grabbed five bottles of water. I put them into the pockets of my backpack and walked off to find Snake. "Snaaaaake!" I called. No reply. "Snaaake!" I called again. I sighed "probably can't hear me." I walked back to the meat section.

There was meat everywhere, I looked around but couldn't see Snake anywhere, "Snake?" I whispered "where are you?". I couldn't see anything, I put down my backpack and grabbed my flashlight.

I flicked it on and looked around, I noticed a shape on the ground that looked like snake. I dropped my backpack and walked up to the weird shape, crouching next to it. It looked exactly like Snake but it was hollow, I poked it and quickly moved my hand back.

I squinted and stared at the thing, I got up to look for any signs of Snake. I then heard a noise come from a counter beside me, I looked at it and smiled with joy, "Snake?" I said walking up to the counter. "Is that you?"

What I saw was not Snake but a Xenomorph. It crawled up onto the counter and stared at me, it's teeth were bared and it was hissing.

I stared with shock and began to shake. My breathing got rapid and I stepped back. Tears began to roll down my face the more I stared at the monster, I remembered my parents and how my mother had been this close to one and been killed by one up close, now Snake was gone or most likely dead and this creature was looking at me as if I was dinner.

I whimpered and turned to run away, once I was around the waist high open freezer the Xenomorph immediately screeched with surprise and pounced at me. I began to sprint but there was nothing in the path of the Xenomorph to stop it.

It quickly gained on me and as it jumped, I yelped and cried with pain as it bashed me to the ground and we both rolled a few times. The Xenomorph was now on top of me, staring into my eyes.

I cried out in horror and whimpered. The Xenomorph lowered it's head as if sad. It hissed and nuzzled it's head against mine.

I sniffed and stared at it with surprise. I breathed heavily and said in a shakily voice "Sn... Sna... Snake?"

The Xenomorph nodded and grinned at me, I grinned back at him and wiped the tears away from my eyes, "You were a Xenomorph this whole time?"

He nodded and got off of me, he stood on his back legs with his head lowered a bit.

I got up and looked up at him, he was at least three feet taller then me, he had a rib cage like chest, I could see all the bones which kinda creeped me out. Snake made a sniffing type sound and tilted his head.

I stared up at his face and smiled at him, "You're not a Snake anymore," I said "So what do I call you now?"


	5. CH 5: Xaez

**Just going to warn you now, most of this story is on Wattpad but I'm uploading it here :P I have very slow updates (It has been more than 8 months since I have updated on WP) so once I upload 16 chapters here on FanFic the updates will become very slow. That's just a little heads up :) Because I don't want people to think I died or something XD But at the moment I'll be adding chapters quickly, just until it hits 16**

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Snake tilted his head and stared down at me.

I thought for a moment of what his new name could be. ' _Cadan? Eagan? Arrio? Besnik? Xeek? No they doesn't suit him...'_ I couldn't think of anything else to call him other than the name he already had. "Snake," I said staring up at him, "Can you think of a better name? I'm trying to think of one similar to your species."

Snake stared down at me with his teeth bared, he growled lowly.

"Stupid question?" I asked him. He nodded. "Yeah thought so, sorry."

I paced up and down the aisle trying to find out what to name him, remembering that I had left my backpack on the ground and hurried to go and get it. I sighed as I picked it up and swung it around my shoulder. Snake was staring at the ground as I walked back.

"How am I going to know if it's you, you look like the other Xenomorphs."

He looked up at my face for a minute or two then took off down the aisle. The sudden movement startled me and before I could chase after him he had already disappeared down some other aisle.

"Snake?" I called _'How about sneaky, or sly... Sounds like him, but no...'_ I grumbled and walked to the end of the aisle and peered left and right. "Snake!? Stop doing this!"

I heard him screech loudly and I followed the sound. He screeched again, I turned down one of the aisles and stared up at the sign. _'Hardware'_ I stopped and stared at the sign, "Why is he trying to get me to go to the hardware place?" I whispered to myself as he screeched again. I continued to follow the sound of his screeches until I reached the end of the aisles and was in the spray paint section.

I stood there confused and looking for Snake, his screeching having stopped once I got there. "Snake?" I called and tried to imitate the screeching sound. Then he screeched again, he sounded like he was laughing at my failed attempt to imitate him. I grumbled and sat on the ground, "What do you want Snake?" I tossed the backpack aside.

He screeched one last time, then I heard clinking noises and a few tiny hisses of disapproval. I waited for Snake to show his face, and when I heard something drop behind me I turned to see Snake sitting with a can of spray paint by his claws.

"What?" I stared at the can then back up at Snake. "What do you want me to do with that?"

Snake growled and tapped the can closer to me. He still sat and hissed as I picked the can up from the ground. I shook it a few times and stared back at him. _'What does he-... ohh I paint him so I know it's him!'_ I grinned and smiled at him.

"Snake you're a genius!" I looked at the paint, it was teal coloured. _'Teal and black... that'll look nice._ ' I shook the can of paint a few more times. "Okay Snake, lower your head."

I stood up and shifted my weight to my left foot as he lowered his head, I tried to think of what design or marking to put on him. After a little bit of thought I spray painted the letter X with curved ends. I smiled, it didn't look to bad.

I lifted his head and grabbed his wrists, I painted a line around both of them so it looked like he was wearing bracelets. I painted an X like the one on his head onto his shoulders, one on his chest, and on both his ankles. I walked around to his back, I shook the can a few more times, and painted lines across his back spikes and along his tail.

I stepped away as Snake turned toward me and screeched. I smiled and patted his head "Now that you have markings and I know who you are all I got to do is name you!" I sat back down and stared into Snake's face.

He peered back at me with his head tilted. I stared down at the spray paint and back at Snake.

' _Xenomorph... I want it to be similar to Xenomorph... keep the X for the first letter for sure'_ I tried to focuse on how Snake was, he was violent for sure, but he was loyal and friendly to me. ' _Xerk, Xiamz, Xen, Xaez... Xaez... that sounds pretty good actually'_ I had remembered that the name Haestingas meant violent because of a boy in my school named that, I sat there with a big smile across my face _'Just take the Haes out of Haestingas and and replace the H with an X and the S with the Z! Yeah that's perfect! Xaez, it can still mean violent!'_

"Xaez!" I shrieked as I jumped up, "Xaez can be your name!"

The newly named Xenomorph stared up with his teeth glistening. The markings on him seemed to glow with the black of his carapace.

" At least it's not a stupid name!" I looked back at the ground, swung my backpack around my shoulder and walked toward the exit of the store, " We got everything we need right?" I asked Xaez.

He nodded and followed after me. I liked how I didn't have to carry him anymore, now that he could just walk on his own. "So," I said walking out of the store "What can Xenomorphs do? I know they have that weird acid stuff for blood but is that all?"

Xaez stopped and looked at me with his head tilted. I took a few more steps then stopped, "What?" He screeched with what seemed like happiness and jumped onto the wall and began to walk across it like a spider, or wierd squirrel.

"Whoa!" I stared at him for a few moments "That's so cool! I wish I could do that..." Xaez jumped off and walked right up to me. He nuzzled his face against mine and hissed softly. I chuckled and pet him on the head. "You're cute you know that right?"

He screeched his approval and walked ahead of me, he looked back at me then forward again, he did that a few times; I could tell that he wanted me to follow him. He walked just a bit faster than me. Xaez and I walked for just a few minutes when he suddenly stopped and stared down at a dead marine, or what was left of him, or her.

I stood next to him looking down at the corpse, it didn't even have a head. I looked away from it and closed my eyes. _'A Xenomorph did this, a Xenomorph killed this marine.'_ I tried not to vomit from the viscera, the smell. Xaez growled and tapped his head against my shoulder.

I looked back at him and tried not to look at the carcass, "What?" He pointed down at the marine. I hesitated for a moment then looked down, Xaez pointed down at a pistol. "You want me to grab that?" I asked, reluctantly picking up the pistol and trying to not lose it.

Xaez nodded and screeched. "I don't really know how to use this thing, you know that right? I've only played video games with guns, but not real life guns."He tilted his head and shifted his wieght to his back leg in that ' _Do you think I care_?' posture.

"Maybe if I find a marine it can teach me how to use it and fire it!" I smiled happily at Xaez and looked back down at the corpse, I reluctantly began to search for more weapons and extra ammunition packs, I found another pistol and a combat knife.

I unbuckled the marines thigh holster and combat vest, strapped them on and put the pistols into the holsters. The vest seemed heavy, so I pulled it off and removed a bunch of the extra stuff to make it a bit lighter.

Xaez stared at me as I worked on the vest, I looked up at him for a few seconds then got back to work, I was able to take off most of the heavy stuff. I strapped on the vest and put the extra ammunition in the pockets, with the combat knife in the vest pocket near the left side of me.

Before I walked off I practiced with the combat knife to see how fast I could take it out. I practiced for a few minutes, stopped, and looked at Xaez. "I think I'm good" I smiled at him "But what would I need a knife for? I can't really kill a Xenomorph with it."

Xaez hissed softly and looked toward the forest. He lifted his head and screeched loudly.

I looked at him with silence. _'Maybe he's worried about the other Humans... maybe he wants me to kill them...'_ I growled a bit and took a step back. Xaez noticed this and quickly turned to look at me, he lowered his head and put his six fingered hand on my shoulder.

"I don't want to kill anyone Xaez... I just can't..." I felt tears run down my face as I thought about all the marines and other humans that had been killed by the Xenomorphs. Xaez hissed softly again and rubbed his head against mine.

 _'I trust you though'_ I sighed and looked down at my watch, 8:50 PM. "It's getting late Xaez." I looked past him at the forest and immediately began to run toward it. I ran a bit slower because of my massive backpack and the vest weighing me down. I grumbled to myself as I tried to reach my full speed but couldn't. _'Not to self get rid of some stuff in my backpack'_

Xaez was right behind me, he seemed to be jogging more than running. As I looked back at him he seemed to grin, I grinned back and ran straight into the woods. I ran, and ran until I couldn't run anymore.

I collapsed to the ground winded. Xaez jumped off of a tree and landed next to me. He stared at me as I took off my backpack and took out some water. I took a few sips as I grabbed the cereal from my pockets and ate a bit of it. "What if a Xenomorph finds us while we're sleeping?" I looked at Xaez expectantly.

He shrugged and whipped his tail side to side. His markings were even brighter now, they were really easy to see even in the dark. I genitally touched the marking on his head. It wasn't even wet, I guessed that it had dried because of the wind hitting it as he ran. "Well I have you to protect me."

I ate for a few minutes and drank abit more of the water before putting them away. I got up and walked behind a tree, Xaez was about to follow me but I put my hand out to stop him, "No," I said to him, he stopped and tilted his head with confusion, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Xaez stopped and looked away as I relieved myself. I returned back to him and sat down, Xaez sat down next to me and almost seemed to purr.

I looked at him, "Again... You're so cute" I patted him the head again "Although you're ugly at the same time... no offence..." I grinned at him.

Xaez grinned at me and curled up into a ball. I yawned, went into my backpack, grabbed the fabric I got from the store, and used it as a blanket.

I cuddled up next to Xaez and began to think of everything we could do. _'Go swimming, run from Xenomorphs, go get more food, play some games... maybe survival isn't so bad after all'_

I closed my eyes snuggling against him, I could feel Xaez's chest move as he breathed. I smiled drifting off into sleep.


	6. CH 6: Learning

I awoke when I felt Xaez move, I yawned, and shoved him a little bit. I couldn't really tell if he was still sleeping, he was curled up into a ball and breathing heavily.

"Xaez," I yawned again, "Wake up buddy." He growled in response, now that I knew that he was awake I went to my backpack to grab some food. I sat and watched Xaez as I munched on the food.

 _'Today might be interesting,'_ I looked down at my two new pistols _'Learning to use these, that will be fun, maybe I can go hunting with Xaez, yeah that'd be pretty awesome'_ I smiled and looked at Xaez again.

He shifted a bit and uncurled.

"Good morning Xaez!" I said cheerfully then looked at my watch to see if it really was morning, it was, 6:54 AM.

Xaez looked at me, he opened his mouth and that second mouth came out and opened too. Then it closed and went back. I stared at him with my head tilted. _'Was that supposed to be a yawn?'_ He walked up to me, nuzzled his head against mine, then got up onto his back legs.

I ate the food for a little longer, put them back into my backpack, and stood up. "Where do we go next?" I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and looked down at my blanket, "I don't think I should carry that anymore, makes the backpack to big..."

Xaez hissed and began to walk through the forest. I followed behind him. He seemed to have a very easy time walking around the trees and seemed to balance extremely well on tree roots, I on the other hand, was almost walking into the trees and stumbled over the tree roots.

 _'And people said I was good at bushwhacking... Well... I am when is comes to running...'_ I grumbled to myself, I was so good when I ran through the bushes I seemed to fly across all the obstacles. I began to watch my feet, in my peripheral view I could see Xaez looking back at me with that big grin on his face.

I looked back up at him and growled, "Can we take it up to a run? I don't stumble as much."

Xaez nodded and began to jog, I jogged up next to him. We jogged for a few minutes then he brought it up to a run, he ran a bit faster than me but I could tell it wasn't his fastest run. We did that for about a minute and he started to sprint.

Now I was sprinting just behind him, and laughing. Xaez didn't look back at me, he just kept sprinting as fast as he could. I tried to push myself to go faster, my backpack wasn't helping me at all. When I finally got beside him, Xaez looked at me and opened his mouth with what I think was surprise.

He grinned at me as he jumped on the nearest tree and began to jump tree to tree. Now he was out running me. _'This is the fastest I've ever gone!'_ It felt so great being able to run like this and not even be tired yet. I guessed that because of my constant running the days before helped with my stamina.

We ran until we reached a road. I realized that we were pretty far from the city now, but the lake was still there, and a beach was on the other side of the road. I looked both ways to make sure that there was no cars coming then I ran across the road to the beach.

Xaez paused and looked at me and walked across to join me.

"This is my favorite lake," I looked at Xaez and smiled, "I love to swim in it, I used to swim all the time, I remember in swimming lessons my teacher said I was the best and the fastest out of all the other swimmers."

Xaez tiled his head and screeched.

"Do you think I can swim in it one last time before we head off to... where ever we're going to." I asked.

Xaez nodded and grinned at me again.

"Now the only problem... I didn't think to pack extra clothes or a bathing suit, so what do I do?" He growled and shrugged. "Well I guess I could just swim in my underwear... though that's a bit weird... screw it!" I dropped my backpack to the ground and took off my clothes and holsters until I was just wearing my underwear.

Xaez tilted his head and walked toward the lake. I followed him. "This feels so weird." I said again, but it was sunny and nice and hot out so it felt like just a normal day at the beach, but with a Xenomorph.

Xaez ran into the water and swam underneath the waves. I jumped into the water, it was warm and felt so nice to swim in.

I held my breath and dived underneath the water. I could feel Xaez's tail hit my arm. I grabbed at it but it slipped between my fingers. I stayed under the water for about a thirty seconds and went back to the surface.

I gasped for air and kept myself above the water until Xaez popped up. "Xaez!" I called. He swam up beside me. "Hey!" I grabbed onto one of his back spikes, "Swim!"

Xaez grinned and swam as fast as he could through the water. It felt like a motor boat, I could feel the wind and the water splashing my face as he swam. I began to laugh and tried to keep my grip on his spike but he was going way to fast.

I slipped and went under the water. I quickly held my breath and began to swim in the water until I had to come up for air. Xaez was still swimming as fast as he could. When he noticed me pop up he swam to me and grabbed me, he then dived, slowly, into the water.

Once I knew what he was doing I held my breath and held onto him. When we were both underneath the water he swam like a shark, I had to keep my eyes closed but it still felt really cool, it was like a motor boat but being under the water. It was the best feeling in the world.

Xaez jumped out of the water and dropped me as he dived back underneath like a dolphin. I gasped for air again and began to laugh and splash the water.

When Xaez popped up again he just stayed in one spot, watching me. I smiled at him and swam on my back, I circled him a few times. "This is fun yea know," I laughed again, "You're an extremely good swimmer too, I didn't think a Xenomorph like you could swim," That's when I remembered his markings. I stopped swimming and stared at him, "Your markings!"

Xaez lifted his wrists and tried to jump out of the water a bit to show that the paint on his chest wasn't fading.

"Awesome!" I sighed with relief "I was so worried that it'd fade."

I dived under the water again. Xaez did the same. He swam next to me, I tried to find his claw so I could hold onto it. I could only find his back spike again. I grabbed hold of it and swam for a bit longer. I jumped up to the surface. I began to front crawl around the water.

Xaez swam up beside me and swam with me.

Suddenly, after a few more minutes of swimming, Xaez screeched in alarm and dived under the water. I thought he was playing so I laughed and splashed the water.

"Hey!" Someone yelled.

I stopped and held my breath as I turned to look at the beach. A marine was standing there and waving. "Hey!" He called again.

I looked at him with shock, "He-... Hey!" I called back and swam back toward the the distance I was from him I noticed that the marine had darkish skin. I slowly walked out of the water, I was a little embarrassed.

The Marine smiled and sighed, "Thank god, I'm not the only one left." He walked up to me but I growled and walked back. He stopped and stood there, "Oh sorry..."

I glared at him and walked back to my backpack. I put my clothes on over my wet undergarments and put on my holster and vest. "Who are you?" I asked. I didn't dare go near him.

"I'm Prone, I'm a Marine, don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." Prone said. "What's your name?"

"Kat, I'm Kat." I picked up my backpack and swung it around my back, " Why are you here? The city is dead." I stared into his green eyes.

"What?" Prone asked with a sad tone, "It's dead? Everyone there is dead?"

"Yeah, at least I think so, when I was there I didn't see anyone else except for a bunch of Xenomorphs." I stared back at the lake to see if Xaez was there.

 _'Please be okay Xaez'_

"Xenomorphs," Prone repeated, "You know what they're called? It was supposed to be classified. Shit."

"Yeah, I over heard a marine." I looked down at my holster and picked up my pistols and held them tightly.

Prone noticed and stared into my face, "I'm not going to hurt you and to answer your other question, I was out of a scouting mission when my squad was attacked by Xenomorphs, they all died and I'm the last one left, I knew there was a city near here so I decided it would probably be the safest place to go."

"Well you're wrong." I lifted the pistols and aimed them at him, I began to shake. "If you make one wrong move I will shoot you."

That's when the Marine seemed to relax, and grinned at me, "You don't even know how to fire those, do you?"

I didn't reply, I just held the pistols.

We stood and watched each other, then Prone lunged at me and knocked the pistols out of my hands.

I was about to scream but he covered my mouth. "Shhh It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, please calm down."

He sat down and I sat down next to him. "I'm a marine, I'm supposed to protect civilians." I sat there listening to him. " I can teach you how to use those pistols, and I can take you to a safer place, why were you in that lake anyway? It could not be very safe there."

 _'Don't mention Xaez, he'll try to kill him for sure'_ I growled a bit, "It's water, I bet I can swim faster than I can run." I looked up at Prone. He had green eyes, brown hair, and scruff. " Where is safer?"

"There is a base set up a few miles from here, I can take you there, you can be safe." He smiled.

I smiled back at him, he wasn't to bad, "Okay, but I'll only go if you teach me how to use those." I pointed to the pistols.

"Alright," He got up and grabbed my pistols. "You'll need to use these anyway, Xenomorphs aren't easy when you fight them up close so having a gun makes it a bit easier." He examined the pistols, "Yep these are p226's."

I stood up, "Are they good?" I asked.

"Yep," He pointed to the magazine, "It holds 12 to 13 bullets. It's also Semi-automatic so you fire one bullet everytime you pull the trigger." He handed the pistols to me.

I looked down at the pistols and aimed them at a tree, "So I just pull the trigger?"

"No, you have to turn the safety off first." He pointed to it.

I turned off the safety. "How much bullets do you think are in this magazine?" I asked him.

"They're probably fully loaded, fire at that tree, the kick back might hurt your wrist but you'll get used to it." He stepped back as I aimed the pistols. "Go on, empty the clips."

"Wait, should I only use one?" I asked looking at him.

He nodded. I handed one of the pistols to him and steadied the other. I stared down the barrel and fired the weapon. A few bullets bounced off of the tree but most missed. I grumbled with disapproval.

"Hold your breath, it gives you more accuracy." Prone said.

I did as told and steadied the weapon again. I emptied the clip into the tree, this time I hit it more but some bullets still missed it. I sighed and turned around to look at Prone.

"Not bad, but not the best either." He smiled, "Take off that clip and put in a new magazine."

I looked past Prone just for a second, in the distance I could see Xaez jump out of the lake and leap into the forest. I smiled knowing that he was safe and looked down at the pistol. "This thing release's the magazine right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I like video games." I smiled up at him and reloaded the pistol.

"Keep doing that, see how fast you can unload and reload, the p226."

I tried at least ten times until I got to unload it and reload it in three seconds.

Prone put his hand on my shoulder, "Great now you know how to fire and reload the pistol, now I'll have to show you how to get it unjammed if that ever happens but at the moment I think we should get somwhere more safe," I holstered the pistols and he continued, "The shots will most likely attract Xenomorphs, and I don't really feel like messing with any of them."

 _'Great... so I have to head to a marine base with this guy but what about Xaez?'_ I stared back at the forest "Okay, you lead the way." As Prone began to walk I followed behind him, not taking my eyes off the forest just in case I saw Xaez.

Xaez popped up on the top of a tree but he kept himself hidden. I grinned at him and waved. I could hear Xaez hiss a bit.

 _'Maybe he'll just follow us and I don't have to worry about him getting killed, yeah, he'll just follow, he's good like that.'_

Prone and I walked silently on the road, not knowing what lies ahead of us.


	7. CH 7: Contact

We had walked in silence for a few hours, we came across a few Xenomorphs but they didn't last long.

"So," I said breaking the silence as I walked next to Prone, "What's your real name?"

He looked at me, "Cortez Salazar, Sergeant Cortez Salazar."

I smiled at him, "Sounds like a Spanish name."

"Yes, it is," Prone smiled back at me, "Everyone calls me Prone though."

"Why?" I asked as I glanced at the forest. Xaez was still following us, I could see something teal and black move between the tree's when Prone wasn't looking, but other than that he was completely invisible.

"My squad said I was accident prone, I used to end up hurting myself, I don't anymore." He grabbed his Rifle from his back, "so that's how I got the nickname Prone," he nudged me, "know what this is?" He held his weapon up.

I looked at it, " A rifle?"

"Yep, C8A3 Carbine Rifle, if you get good enough with those pistols I bet I can teach you how to use this." He smiled again and held his Carbine close to him.

We went silent again. _'Learning how to use a Carbine? That's even better than these pistols! I just have to learn to trust him and he has to learn to trust me.'_ Up ahead I could see a small building, I decided to keep quiet knowing that Prone would've already seen it by now.

I waited a few moments then said, "Prone, can we stop and rest for a bit over at that building?"

"Your legs sore?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, we'll take a small break," He grinned at me, "it looks like a gas station so maybe we can grab a car, or get you some candy."

I chuckled.

I smiled as we got closer, I began to run but Prone grabbed my backpack and pulled me back. "Wait." he said as he crouched and slowly walked toward the entrance of the small building. "Take out your pistol." he whispered to me.

I did as told and crept up beside him, "What are you doing?" I asked.

"We have to make sure it's safe." He whipped around the corner and walked into the store, I followed behind him. He checked behind the counter, in the back, and both of the washrooms. Once we finished checking the area we went back to the counter.

I sat down on a chair behind the counter. Instantly my legs felt so much better, they were still sore, but better.

Prone walked up and down the aisles, "Someone's raided this place," he said looking at me, "basically no food or water left."

"It's okay, I got food and water." I took off my backpack and took out some water, I handed one to Prone. I handed him a bottle as he sat down next to me. I put my pistol back into the holster. "Do you have any food?" I took out a can of corn as he took a sip from the bottled water.

"Yeah but only army rations, they're not the tastiest things in the world." He lowered his own backpack to take out some food.

"Cold corn ain't so good either." I grabbed my combat knife and stabbed at the can until it opened, put the knife down and ate a mouthful of cold corn. Prone chuckled, he opened up a green bag, put a weird bag that said FRH on it into the bag and added some water too. He put some type of chicken on the bag and waited. Suddenly the bag started to steam and Prone began to eat the food. He picked up a bar that read "HOOAH!" on it, and took a bite. I stared at him for a few moments then got back to eating my corn.

We ate for a few minutes, but then Prone noticed my blade, he merely choked on his food, "Why do you have a Combat Knife?"

I grabbed the blade, and finished off my food before answering, "I found it and took it." I walked to a waste bin and tossed out the can. Just as I was about to walk back to Prone, three people walked by the doorway, two men and one woman.

"Well, hello little one." One of the men said.

I growled and backed up, I looked at Prone expectantly. He was already on his feet with his Carbine aimed straight at the People. I noticed two of them were holding knifes. "Drop the weapons!" Prone shouted in an extremely aggressive tone.

The people smiled, "We're simply looking for food and supplies," They looked at each other and grinned. "Which you seem to have plenty of."

I glared at them and walked behind one of the aisles, I made sure that I could still see them. Then I took one of my pistols out of it's holster and flipped the safety off. _'You try something and I'll get you!'_ I wanted to yell, but I kept my mouth shut.

The woman took a step toward Prone, "Would you mind giving some food?" I could tell from her tone that she was up to something.

Prone glared at her and pulled our backpacks away from them. "You're looters." He growled.

The woman looked to the men by the door, they both nodded and she lunged at Prone lifting her knife as she did so. Prone dropped her with a round to the head, I jumped out of the aisle and shot at the men by the doorway three times, I hit one once in the leg, he screamed and fell to the ground.

The other man ran toward Prone. Prone leapt back and opened fire, taking him out in a few seconds. I ran to him and glared down at the wounded man.

Prone looked at me and said, "People like these are the ones that you have to stay away from," He looked down at the man, " It's only been a few days and everyone is already turning into beasts." He looked at me again.

"You bastard!" The man yelled, "You killed them! _You killed them!_ "

"You attacked us!" I yelled at him and lifted the pistol so that it was aimed square at his head.

His eyes widened and he gasped and then his eyes drew narrow. "You wouldn't dare," He growled, "You wouldn't kill a Human, you're just a kid!"

Prone stepped in, "Pipe down! You'll attract the bugs!"

"Oh god please don't kill me! Take whatever you want!" The man yelled again.

"It's better than leaving him to get dragged away by the Xenomorphs." Prone looked at me.

 _'What's so bad about being taken by Xenomorphs?'_

I walked a bit closer and aimed the gun between his eyes. My hand shook violently but I took in a breath to steady it.

Prone gave me a nod, I hesitated for a few seconds. The man yelled again but never got to finish his sentence, I pulled the trigger and he was gone.

Prone said, "You did the right thing Kat." He patted me on the shoulder and grabbed my backpack and put it down next to me.

I let out a breath and stared down at the backpack. _'I had to, he tried to attack Prone, he would've kill me too.'_ I looked back at Prone. "My wrist hurts..."

He grabbed his backpack and swung it around his back, "Don't worry, that's just from the kick back, it should be okay in a few hours." He walked outside of the gas station, "I'm going to look for a car. Stay here and don't move."

I nodded and he left my sight. I stared down at my gun. _'I can't believe I killed someone... I... I shouldn't of...' ._ I felt tears run down my face but I quickly wiped them away. "I had to do it." I said to myself and holstered my pistol. Grabbing my backpack I went to look down some of the small aisles.

There wasn't much Candy left, a few chocolate bars and hard candy but that was it. I stared at the Candy and sighed, after shooting someone I didn't have much of an appetite. Suddenly hissing came from behind me. I swung around to see Xaez standing there.

"Xaez!" I yelled, running and embracing him. Xaez screeched in alarm. He tilted his head and grinned. "Are you mad that I'm wandering around with Prone?" He shook his head and hissed softly. "So you don't mind? You're not going to kill him right? You're going to follow us right?"

He made something like a twittering sound and nodded. When we both heard Prone walk by the building Xaez screeched and jumped up onto the roof, he looked at the door for a few seconds and skittered out of sight.

I watched as he went away, Prone came up from behind me and grabbed my shoulder. "I swear I heard a Xenomorph," he sighed with relief, "You okay?"

"Yeah." I turned around to look at him, "Did you find a car?"

"Yes." I stayed behind him as he gestured me to follow out of the building. "All I got to do is hot wire it, know what hot wiring is?"

"Isn't it that thing where you can drive a car without it's keys or something."

"Yes," He walked up to the car that was parked behind the gas station, he opened the driver's door and hopped in while I got in the passengers side.

As Prone hot wired the car I took off my backpack and set it on my lap. I sighed. _'I hope Xaez is safe... Do other Xenomorph's attack him cause he was with me or do they not attack him cause he is their own species? Oh I wish he could talk.'_

The engine of the car came to life and Prone cheered triumphantly. "Yes!" He smiled at me, "Now we can get to the base faster, hopefully this car will last the ride there."

"What if Xenomorphs attack us?" I looked out of the window and into the forest, Xaez moving through the tree's.

Prone noticed him and quickly put on my seat belt and buckled himself in, "We have to go, and we'll worry about that when it happens." He drove the car away from the gas station and went down the road. He glanced out the window occasionally with a worried face.

 _'Everything should be fine now, we have a car, supplies, food and water... we're okay... we're safe.'_


	8. CH 8: Tunnel Trouble

We had made it over a few miles in the past hour, but I was getting a bit annoyed with the fact that we weren't at the base yet. "Prone," I looked at him, "How long until we get to the base?"

He didn't look at me, "Maybe a day, I'm not sure, I was on foot for about two days but I'm not sure how far I got from the base."

I grumbled and sighed. "Where do we have to go anyway? Do we just follow the road the whole time or do we have to cross something?"

"There is a Tunnel that we have to go past, then we keep going for a bit."

"Great..." I said sarcastically and stared out of the window. Xaez was still in the forest, I could see him jumping tree to tree. _'Should I even tell Prone about him?... No, he'd just kill him, he'd think he's like all of the other Xenomorphs'_ I was surprised that it had only been a few days since the Xenomorphs had come to our city, it felt like they've been here for months. _'How did they even get here in the first place? Is the whole planet taken over?'_

I lowered my head and rested it on my backpack. It was like I was going camping with my dad and my brother. Mom never came with us, she didn't like the forest. We used to go fishing and run around in the woods, and if it was raining we'd have a contest to see who could make a fire in the rain. I missed that already.

Prone was looking out of his window as he was driving, he was probably looking for Xenomorphs.

We drove in silence for about another hour before I finally asked, "What's so bad about Xenomorphs?"

Prone looked at me with the face that meant ' _really_?'. He took in a breath then spoke, "Xenomorphs kill people, they take people and they kill people."

"People kill people," I stared out the window again, "What's the difference?"

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"Yes."

"Well... Xenomorphs... They, uh, take people and bring them to their 'hive' then they stick them to the walls," He paused for a second, " They get things that look like hands or a spider with a tail-"

I cut him off, "I've seen one of those! I think it was the second say in the woods. I was walking and I found one, it had jumped at me so I ran away."

"You got away from it?" He sounded a bit surprised. I nodded. " Good, if it caught you, you'd be dead... But like I was saying they take one of those and they 'face hug' you, after a while... a..." He stopped.

"What? After a while what?"

He sighed, "The Xenomorphs kill at birth, they burst out of peoples chests... we call it a chestburster, it looks like a snake but has little arms."

I looked down for a second _'Chestburster, Xaez was a chestburster'_ I took a deep breath and said, "I know what they look like, I've seen one of those too, I've seen big Xenomorphs too."

"Have you seen a Queen or a Praetorian?" Prone asked.

I took a moment to think, "No, I don't think I have. What does the Queen look like?"

"She's big, really big almost twenty feet tall, she has a head crest like a Praetorian and she has four arms. Praetorians only have two arms though. But Xenomorphs are dangerous Kat, they can trick people and cut the power, they're smart and dangerous, just remember that okay?"

"Okay..." I sighed, I didn't want to belive that Xaez was bad. _'He's not tricking me is he? If he was I bet I'd be dead by now. He's not bad, he's good, I know he'd never let me die.'_

We went silent again. I closed my eyes and decided to rest for a bit. Soon I fell asleep.

I awoke to Prone gently shoving my arm. "Kat, Kat wake up."

I yawned, "What?" I opened my eyes just a little bit to look at him.

"We're at the tunnel but something doesn't look right," He pointed out of the front window, "See that right there? It wasn't there before when I come through, the only problem is that there is no other way to go around I-" He stopped when he heard something screech.

I rubbed my eyes and stared out the window, I ignored the sound. _'Probably just Xaez.'_. The sun was beginning to set in the horizon, it's rays of light glimmering in orange and yellow and pink. Outside, at the tunnel, I could see black webbing surrounding the mouth of the tunnel, it shined slightly. And from where I was it looked like it was wet or slimy. "What's that?"

"I'm not sure," Prone replied, "I'm guessing it has something to do with Xenomorphs though. We can't go around it, we have to go through." He sounded nervous.

"Okay." I tossed my backpack in the back seat of the car and looked down at my holstered Pistols, "Should I use one of my pistols just in case?" I asked.

"Yes. But only fire if I tell you to." Prone grabbed his Carbine and set it on his lap. He slowly moved the car toward the entrance of the tunnel.

At first everything was completely fine. Nothing was there. But Prone was being extremely cautious, he stared out the window at the gooey substance on the walls of the tunnel. I held one of my pistols and stared out of my window. _'Nothing yet...'_

The peace didn't last long, we suddenly heard a ear piercing screech and I screamed as the the car shuddered.

Prone cursed and immediately stepped on the gas. The car seemed to whine and we heard more screeches and hisses.

A Xenomorph jumped onto the side of the car where I was and used it's extra mouth to break the glass. It snarled and tried to get into the car, I raised my pistol to fire at it but Prone reached out and pulled me off my seat.

"Shoot!" He yelled as he quickly grabbed the wheel and plowed through a bunch of Xenomorphs. The creature clinging to the passenger door screeched and tried to grab at me. I fired the pistol and watched as it slumped on the seat. I began to hear something, like something was slowly sizzling.

I watched, amazed as the car seat in front of me began to dissolve right in front of my eyes. I stared out the broken window. Several Xenomorphs were crawling on the car now, I could hear them bashing the top of the roof. He rammed the car into the left side of the tunnel, scattering black shapes as he tried to keep them off the drivers side.

Prone was yelling my name, I wasn't listening to him. Then I heard gun shots. I covered my ears and looked to see Prone shooting the front glass window. A Xenomorph was on the hood and scratching through the cracked window at him. I lifted my pistol and aimed it at the Alien. "No don't!" Prone screamed, "The acid will burn the engine!"

"Then what do I do!?" I yelled back at him.

"Wait for it to move first!"

I kept my aim on the Xenomorph as it moved toward my broken window, other Xenomorphs began to crowd around it as well. I held my breath and aimed my pistol at the nearest Xenomorph's head. I fired twice and killed the first one.

My old seat was now completely gone, and the front right wheel seemed to be starting to dissolve as well. More Xenomorphs tried to get through.

Prone kept his foot on the gas and shot at the Xenomorphs on the passenger door. The car drifted off to the right and hit the tunnel wall. I could hear the metal grinding and whining against the concrete tunnel.

I could smell something acrid, I guessed that it was the burning rubber from the car wheels, or the metal being melted by the Alien acid.

By now the Xenomorphs completely covered the car. There claws were tearing through the top of the car and reaching down to grab at us. I yelped, ducking "What do we do!?" I yelled.

"We're almost to the end! We just have to hold on until we reach it." Prone fired at the back car window, killing and knocking off three Xenomorphs. I shot the nearest Xenomorph and emptied my clip into the rest by the window.

I quickly reloaded the pistol and screamed as a Xenomorph grabbed my arm. "Prone!" I kicked at the Alien but it wouldn't let go. Now everything got slow. I could see all the Xenomorphs jumping up onto the car, and up on the wall behind every single one of them was Xaez, _Xaez,_ he was watching the whole time. I didn't blame him for not helping. With this many Xenomorphs he'd be torn apart in seconds.

But he wasn't getting them to stop. _'Why isn't he getting them to stop? Can't he tell them to?'_ I screamed as loud as I could and fired at the Xenomorph holding my arm, I made sure I hit it in the leg so that the blood wouldn't touch me.

The Xenomorph screeched in alarm but didn't let go of me as it began to fall. Prone grabbed my other arm and yanked me back to him. Now everything was back to normal and Xaez seemed to have disappeared. _'Had I just imagined him? No I saw him I know I did...'_

The car burst out of the tunnel and onto the open road. We made it a few metres away from the tunnel when Prone stomped on the brakes. The car skidded to a stop and the Xenomorphs on the roof went flying forward.

Prone hit the gas again and smashed through the recovering Aliens, acid spattering the hood and windshield. Prone drove away as fast as he could, Xenomorphs chased after us for what seemed like forever, until eventually they seemed to dwindle and disappear, roughly three kilometers away from the tunnel. Prone slowed the car to a stop and slumped back into the seat, idly flipping the windshield wipers on.

"We got some bugs on our windshield." He said, as the smoldering remains of the wipers twitched by the gapping hole of what used to be the windsheild. I giggled abit, forgetting the fear and adrenaline of escaping the tunnel for a moment.

I looked into the backseat, my backpack was still there just the way I had left it, unlike everthing around it. I got up, grabbed it and swung it around my shoulder. I got out and admired the car with Prone.

I looked up at him and grinned, "Good as new."

Prone laughed and put a hand on my shoulder, "You're good Kat, I didn't think you'd actually kill any of those things."

"Well if they attack me they're going to die."

Prone smiled at me and started to pace up and down the road. "Now the only problem is that we don't have a car and it's almost dark out. Xenomorphs seem to mainly be active at night."

"Really?" I asked and looked at the forest, "I've been out here at night and never seen one."

"Maybe cause they're dark and quiet," He looked at the forest too, "We'll have to walk the rest of the way to the base." He started to make his way toward the forest.

I followed behind him. _'I have to find Xaez and talk to him... maybe I can when Prone is sleeping tonight, yeah that's when I'll go looking for him.'_ I smiled to myself, everything was going well. We didn't have a car but we weren't dead either. Everything was going to be fine.


	9. CH 9: Like Camping

It was really dark now, around 10:25 PM. The moon was out and Prone and I were sitting by a fire he had made, I was leaning against a tree and looking through my backpack for another can of corn.

Prone was holding his combat knife and was slowly sliding it across his fingers, I was tempted to do the same but I knew I'd end up cutting myself by accident. I shifted around the cereal and found a can of the cold corn, I smiled as I picked it out of the pack and set it down in front of me.

Prone lifted his head and peered at me. I zipped up my pack and took out my knife. "Wait," Prone said, "put it by the fire, you can warm it up."

I did as he suggested and shoved it close to the fire, I leaned back against the tree again.

Prone put his knife beside him and went digging through his own bag, he took out a package that said MRE on the side of it. He opened it and pulled out another one of those weird heating things, he put his food into it and waited.

The fire crackled and popped and I could feel the heat against my face, it didn't help with how tired I was but it helped my mood a lot, it looked nice. It was like I was camping with my dad again, but without Roman. I almost wanted to cry but instead I just stared at the fire.

I grabbed a stick and reached out to poke the can of corn back to me. Prone stood up and walked over to me with his food in his hands. He sat himself down next to me and put his food on my lap. I stared down at it for a few moments. _'He wants me to have it?'_ I looked up at him expectantly.

"Go on," He smiled at me, "you get my food today, I'll get the 'cold' corn." He pulled what looked like a chocolate bar out of a bag and gave it to me," Hooah!" He cheered.

The bar read Hooah and near the bottom Ooh-Rah, "What does that mean?" I smiled up at him.

Prone shrugged, "No one really knows, I've been told it means anything but 'No' and others say it's when you agree with someone."

I chuckled a bit and grabbed the food, Prone waited for the canned corn to cool off a bit before opening and eating. The military food tasted much better than the cold corn, it was like I was eating chicken for the first time in my whole life, it was awesome. I was surprised that it had only been three days since the Xenomorphs attacked, it felt more like two weeks or a month.

I scooped up the last bit of the food and unwrapped the HOOAH! bar. Prone was smiling at me. I smiled back at him before taking a bite out of the bar. _'It really is like I'm camping with my dad.'._ I leaned up against the tree and continued to munch on the bar.

 _'Prone should know how far the base is now, hopefully we can make it that far.'_ I chewed and looked up at all the other trees, I wished Xaez was here with me, I liked cuddling next to him. I took another bite of the bar then turned to Prone. "You said the Xenomorph's mainly come at night right?"

Prone didn't look at me, he continued to eat his food, "Yeah, I was just thinking about that. Maybe we should move out before we draw any attention."

I finished off the bar. "Why don't we just rest for a bit, then go?" I stood up and looked through my backpack.

"I guess we could do that." He replied. I grabbed my flashlight and walked toward a different area. Prone stared at me and put down the can of corn, "Hey, where are you going?" He said standing up.

I paused and looked at him, "Don't worry, I just have to go to the washroom." I glanced down at my holsters. "I'll be fine."

Prone sighed and sat back down. "Don't go to far."

I nodded and walked off into the bushes. I flicked the flashlight on and went far enough from the site that I could barely see the fire. I relieved myself then wandered around for a little while. I looked up at the trees, " Xaez." I called in a quite tone, "Xaez, where are you?"

Xaez jumped down in front of me with that big grin on his face. I smiled back at him and hugged him. "Hey buddy!" He screeched in surprise and nuzzled my head.

I took a step back and sat down, "You're going to protect us when we're sleeping right?" I asked him. "You're going to make sure we're safe."

Xaez screeched and nodded. He made something like a twittering sound and looked in the direction of the fire.

"Do you like Prone?" I asked him in a worried tone. I wanted him to like him, we could live together and be happy together, we could go to a house and live there. Xaez could be like a pet and it'd be like I was with my dad again. _'Please like him... please'_

He lowered his head a bit and hissed. I didn't know what it mean't but I took it in the way that he did like Prone. I stood up and smiled. " I should probably get back to him before he begins to worry." I paused then remember about the Tunnel, "You were there... You were in the tunnel."

This got Xaez's attention and he looked at me with his head lifted high and tilted. He twittered again. "Why didn't you help us?" I asked him.

Xaez hissed again and screeched. He looked side to side as if he was trying to figure out how to show me something. He growled a bit and used his claws to show what he meant. He pawed at the air as if he was scratching it then pointed at himself.

It took some time for me to process what he was saying, "The others would attack you if you did?" He nodded. _'Good, he didn't betray me then.'_ I smiled at him then I heard Prone call my name. "Xaez... I should go before he comes looking for me."

Xaez seemed to growl and jumped off into the trees.

I sighed and walked back toward the fire. I tried to be as quite as possible so that I wouldn't startle Prone. I crept up to the tree line and saw Prone pacing back and forth holding his rifle. "Prone." I called to him.

He shot his head up and looked at me, "There you are, what took you so long?"

I grinned and sat down next to the fire. I flicked the flashlight off and put it back into my backpack. "I went wandering but I kept the fire in view." I closed my eyes and leaned up against the tree. _'I should just sleep.'_

"Well tell me if you're going to do that." He had a stern tone, "I don't want you getting attacked. Now I was thinking about what you said before, about sleeping for a bit and heading off in the night, we're going to do that, it's probably the safest thing we can do."

I nodded but didn't open my eyes or reply. I tried thinking about Xaez and me swimming again. It was so fun, I wanted to go back to the lake with him and swim while it was still warm out. Soon I began to drift off and fell asleep.

I awoke to Prone calling my name. "Kat, we should move now." he whispered.

I grumbled a bit and rubbed my eyes. _'Worst. Idea. Ever... I have to learn to shut up.'_ I yawned and grabbed my flashlight from my bag, zipped the bag up, and walked over to Prone. This was when I noticed that Prone had a light on his shoulder that he simply flicked on.

Prone grabbed his backpack and put it on his back. I did the same. Prone walked off into the direction that he thought the Military base was in, I followed behind.

 _'What does a Military base look like anyway? I know they don't look like stupid video game bases. Maybe it's just a big house that they call a 'base'... or maybe it's like one of those things with barricades and stuff, now that'd be really cool!'_ I smiled to myself and flashed my light around the tree's.

There were noises in the distance that seemed to unsettle Prone. He looked nervously at his surroundings, he kept his rifle up and ready to be fired. I didn't blame him. I was a bit nervous too, I knew the noises were either Xenomorphs or wild Animals... or wild Animals being chased by Xenomorphs.

I stayed close to Prone, unholstered one of my pistols and held it in my right hand with my flashlight in my left. _'I always did hate the darkness...'_

Now I could hear loud screeches and hisses. _'Please be Xaez, please be Xaez.'_ I could feel my heart beating really fast now and I started to breath heavily.

Suddenly Xenomorphs leapt out of the darkness toward us. I screamed and threw myself to the ground, but Prone grabbed my backpack and hauled me back to my feet, dragging me into a run as the Xenomorphs chased after us.

Prone fired at the Xenomorphs and dropping two of them. I fired my pistol four times, three of the shots missed but one hit a Xenomorph straight in the head. There was at least six Xenomorphs behind us, jumping tree to tree and bounding closer.

I tried to push myself to go faster but my legs were already starting to hurt. Prone had to keep dragging me behind him. We ran another few feet when Prone shoved me under a fallen log.

I yelped and rolled under it. I saw him leap over the log and turn around, firing rounds at the Xenomorphs. He dropped one, then another, and another but then one of them was on him. He used his arm to keep the second mouth away from his face as he struggled to get the monster off of him.

"Prone!" I yelled and lifted my gun up to shoot at the Xenomorph, then remembered what happened my mom when one had bled on top of her. I fired at one of the other Aliens that was about to pounce on him and it hit the ground in front of the log. It's body already began to disintegrate.

More of them began to come, there was just too many. I fired until my clip was empty. Suddenly the other Xenomorphs dropped on the ground and three Marines came bursting into the light. One of them drop-kicked the Xenomorph on top of Prone, then fired several rounds through it's head and watched as it began to disintegrate before getting up.

The other Marines helped Prone to his feet as I crawled out from under the log and stepped around the dead Xenomorphs. I stared up at them.

The Marines didn't look down at me. "Name and Rank." the Marine had a Irish accent.

"Sergeant Cortez Salazar." Prone replied and nodded at the fellow Marine, "Thanks by the way."

The other two Marines, one with dark skin, and one with a lighter skin stood beside the one with the Irish accent. They looked at each other and seemed to nod.

"You should come with us." The lighter skinned one said, 'The base is about two clicks away from here, I think it's safer then running around in the dark with two lights." he looked at me, "You hurt?" he asked in a gentle tone.

I nodded but didn't say anything, I walked behind Prone.

Prone took a few steps then stopped, "First, what's your names?"

The Irish one said, "Lieutenant Carter,." He pointed to the dark skinned one, "This is Private Timber, and Corporal Laine."

Prone nodded, "Okay, let's go."

We walked for about thirty or forty minutes, the Marines and Prone had killed several Xenomorphs on the way. I stayed close to Prone, I didn't trust any of the new Marines.

As we got to the treeline of the forest I gaped and stared at the massive Military base. I never expected to see what I saw, it wasn't like a video game one at all. It was much bigger than I thought it'd be, there was a massive building and what looked like a landing strip and road that lead toward it. I looked up at Prone who seemed to be completely calm, but he knew what a base looked like. He seemed a bit nervous though.

Prone held onto my hand as we walked nearer. Now I was getting nervous, I glanced back at the forest to see if Xaez was there. He wasn't.

I held my breath as Prone and the others walked up to a heavily armed Marine with two others at his side.

Prone stopped a few feet away from him and saluted, "Sir."

The Marine had plenty of metals on his uniform, maybe twenty or more. He had a stern look on his face and he was glaring at Prone. " At ease." He looked down at me for a few seconds and back at Prone, "You abandoned your squad Sergeant."

Prone seemed like he was on the verge of panic, "I know sir. I thought everyone was dead." He said standing straight.

"This could call for court-martial!" The Marine raised his voice a bit.

"General... I know, I thought they were dead. I had no choice but to run." He looked down at me. "I found a survivor."

The General looked down at me again, "An armed civilian at that, did you give her those weapons?"

"No, Sir."

The General narrowed his eyes and looked back at Prone, "We will discuss this later." He looked at the Marine named Carter, "Take their weapons, escort them to their quarters and keep them under guard."

I growled with disapproval as the marines took my pistols. They didn't take my knife though. After the Marines waved us to follow them. We did as we were told. _'Great... this is not what I thought it'd be...'_


	10. CH 10: Charlie Foxtrot

The second day we were at the base Prone and I were in the mess hall eating Rice and some kind of noodle soup.

Yesterday we had spent the whole day in the room being inspected by medics until the General had questioned us. We got a good nights sleep after that and were now eating in silence.

"So, what did you do that was so bad?" I asked after swallowing a mouth full of Rice.

Prone looked at the two guards watching us then back at me, "Well... I 'abandoned' my squad when they got attacked... I gave the order to run but I guess they didn't hear me, then said I abandoned them when they found their way back here," Prone sighed, "I had a squad of six including me, only two made it back."

I looked at my food for a few moments, _'Should I tell him about Xaez? I know I should but he'd tell the others or call me crazy...'_ I tried to think about it, Xaez was probably still in the woods watching the base... Or maybe he was already in the base and I just didn't see him. _'I have to tell him... I know I do.'_ I opened my mouth but closed it. _'Later...'_

I took a few more spoonfuls of Rice. The Marines that were guarding us seemed to talk to each other often, I had overheard them talking about a base called "Johnson Atoll." I wondered if Prone knew about it or if he was left out.

We continued to eat in silence for another five minutes. _'I should tell him now.'_. I swallowed, "Hey Prone." My voice was a bit shaky. He looked up at me expectantly. "You know how Xenomorphs are dangerous and... kill people... well-" I got a lump in my throat and I just couldn't talk.

Prone tilted his head, "You okay?" He asked then glanced at the Marines, a third one had come up and whispered into one of their ears.

Immediately the marines snapped to attention and turned to Prone, "Sir, the General would like to speak to you."

Prone looked back at me, then at them again. He nodded, "Come on Kat," He stood up and followed the marines.

I coughed a bit and followed behind him. _'Why can't I just say it and get it over with, he'll find out eventually.'_ I sighed grumbling to myself, ran up beside Prone and looked up the hallway. _'The base Johnson Atoll... maybe that's where everyone is going... maybe they're evacuating.'_ I looked at the marines and was tempted to ask them, but instead I kept my mouth shut.

The Marines escorted Prone into a room but wouldn't let me inside. "Sorry kid." One of them said, "But they need to have a private conversation." He pulled up a chair and put it next to the door.

I grumbled and sat down on it. I crossed my arms over my chest and put on the pouting face. _'Great, now I just got to sit here for who knows how long and do nothing.'_ The Marines didn't seem to care that I was pouting, then again who would? No one liked it when someone pouted, even I hated it.

 _'I hope Xaez is okay he's probably freaking out right now, either that or he's just jumping around in the woods... I don't want to tell Prone about him, I know I have too but I don't want them to hunt him down and kill him.'_ I looked at the door and down at my empty holsters. _'Hmm, I should get my guns back.'_ I looked up at the Marines next to the door. I watched them and waited for a chance to get away.

It was about fifteen minutes until some other Marine ran up and began to talk to the others. He seemed almost panicked and frantically began to tell the Marines about something. I ignored him and used this chance to get up and go.

I sat for a few more seconds. _'Do it now'_ I jumped up and crept down the opposite side of the hall. Once I was far enough from the Marines I turned and ran down some more corridors to try and find the armory.

There were civilians along with the marines in the base that were walking around, they didn't seem to care about me running past. They probably didn't know that I was supposed to be supervised, so I brought it down to a jog.

I guessed that the armory would have to be inside somewhere, either that or outside. I noticed a bunch of other children in the base, some of which looked familiar. I thought about going over and asking them, _'I shouldn't they'd wonder what happened to me or ask about the Xenomorphs.'_ I walked away and instead listened to what some marines were saying.

"Hey," A marine was saying to a civilian, I guessed it was someone from his family, "We've lost communications but I think we're okay, the last transmission we got put the Choppers a few hours out."

 _'Choppers?'_ I continued to walk and heard more stuff about the 'Choppers' and the base, Johnson Atoll. Apparently they were evacuating to the base in a few hours and were getting ready to leave.

Now I was around what seemed to be the Medbay. I peaked through the door and saw five Medics, three were talking and two others were trying to calm down some patients.

The injured had burns along their arms and legs and were screaming. "We're all going to die!" One of them was kicking and yelling. "We've lost communications and the Xenomorphs are out there! They are going to take over this base and kill us all!"

"Calm down!" The medics tried to pin him down, one of them muttered something about this "turning into a real Charlie Foxtrot".

 _'Charlie foxtrot? What's with all the messed up words?'_ I continued to peek through and tried to stay focused on the Medics, but the three that were talking grabbed my attention.

"We've lost contact with a nearby group." One of them was saying, "Out in the forest by that town that was overrun. Heard they got a few survivors and were supposed to get back here in a few days."

Another one said, "Yeah, I heard about that too. They got an APC from what the General was saying, and some civvies with them that're apparently pretty good at shooting bugs."

 _'APC?'_ I sighed, _'To many things I don't know'_

"Wait if they get here how are we going to be able to get that APC on the choppers? We need that thing."

"They're bringing those big choppers aren't they? Then we'll be completely fine, once they get here anyway. Hopefully we can last until then." He looked over at the two other medics holding down the patient and rushed over to help them, "We're going to be okay, calm down Rosco." He said trying to calm him down.

I tilted my head, and for a second the patient calmed down and stared with wide eyes back at the Medic.

 _'I should go find Prone... I don't think I'll be able to find my guns in this place.'_ I turned away from the Medics, their conversation was stuck in my head, the one about the APC and the civilians. I didn't know why, but something told me that might be useful.

I began to walk back toward the office that Prone was in, when suddenly a group of about six Marines came charging past me. I looked at them for a moment before continuing. _'Probably going out to scout or something.'_

Suddenly alarms began to blare and I stopped in my tracks. I looked around and saw a bunch of Marines looking panicked. A few of them continued to talk to the civilians as if nothing was happening, but the others were already running and grabbing their weapons and sprinting away.

I gasped. _'Somethings wrong. Where do I go?"_ I frantically looked side to side and then remembered my room, _'I need my backpack, and I need to find Prone.'_ I turned and hurried toward the barracks.

Xaez was now my second priority, I had to find him and make sure he was okay, first Prone, then Xaez and I'll tell Prone about him and hopefully he'll be okay with it.

 _'I'll find a gun and then I'll be fine.'_ But I knew for sure that something bad was going to happen.


	11. CH 11: Protection

**I would like to thank everyone for your reviews :3 I really love reading them (Especially yours Teshy XD They always make me smile or laugh) I'll be slowing down the updates a bit after this so I have time to continue my work on CH 16, hopefully I'll get it done soon but I never know with :P That is all, hope everyone is enjoying the story**

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I was in my room stuffing everything back into my backpack and trying to figure out what to do. The marines were everywhere now but I hadn't seen Prone, I was beginning to freak out. _'Maybe he's dead, or he killed someone and the Marines are looking for him'_.

I finished with my backpack and swung it around my shoulder, I walked over to the door and looked up and down the corridor. Three Marines and two civilians were in the hall talking to each other with fear in their voices.

The Marines looked over at me but didn't say anything. I looked down at my vest, my knife would probably come in handy now, if the Marines tried anything I could stab them. Not sure If I could get the courage to do that though. The Marines glared at me and when they looked away I took off down the opposite side of the hall. ' _Find Prone and get out of the base. Then find Xaez and make sure Prone doesn't kill him.'_

I looked to either side and into all the other rooms I passed, there were civilians in most of them and some Marines checking their weapons. The ones that didn't have anyone looked like they had packed up their things and taken off in a hurry, like I did.

Suddenly I stopped in my tracks, I could hear gunfire. I stared down the corridor and wondered whether I should keep going or not. I held my breath and walked to the end and looked down the next hall. No one. I sighed, _' I'm going to be okay.'_ I ran down the hall looking back a few times.

I was nervous now, I didn't know what was going on or if that "evac" was coming or even here. _'If it was the evac then why are people shooting?'_ I looked down at my empty holster and frowned, I missed having my guns with me. _'Maybe they're just being safe and taking out the Xenomorphs, making sure they don't get to the choppers. That's most likely what's going on.'_

Prone would have to be somewhere in the base, he'd have to be, either that or he was outside fighting the Xenomorphs. _'What if they hit Xaez? They could kill him.'_ If Xaez died I'd have Prone but I wouldn't be able to live without my little Xenomorph, he saved me so many times and kept me safe from the others.

I made it down the hall and peeked around the corner, I saw a group of four Marines, two holding assault rifles and the others holding pistols. They were firing down the opposite hall and yelling orders. I gasped, took a few steps toward them and called out to them, "Whats going on?"

A Marine stopped firing and looked at me,"Hey kid! Get out of here, take those doors!" He pointed to his left, and I paused. "It's not safe, go!" He shouted between bursts of fire.

Ahead I saw a door to the right. I took a few more steps toward the door but I stopped when I heard the Marine scream. I looked up and saw a Xenomorph on top of him biting down into his neck. It was tearing the flesh right off, spilling his blood all over the floor and the walls. Then the Alien slashed it's tail through his abdomin causing more blood to splatter.

The rest of the Marines, now covered in their friends blood, were retreating and screaming. They desperately fired their guns.

More Xenomorphs came rushing down the hall and pounced at them. A Marine holding a pistol wasn't so lucky and got tackled by at least four of them. They were literally tearing him apart, taking off his arms and shredding through his torso. A few Xenomorphs grabbed a Marine and hauled him back as he screamed for his life.

"Don't let them take me! Help! AHHH!" When the Marine was pulled out of sight his cries for help had stopped.

I stared in shock, scrambling back away from the door and what was left of the Marines. I smacked into the wall behind me and stood there, frozen. The Xenomorphs weren't focused on me but I knew that if I was to stay I would die. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. _'I have to move, why won't I move?!'_

A few Xenomorphs stopped at the end of the hall, turning to look at me. One opened it's mouth and hissed loudly. The others stood and slowly stepped forward, saliva dripping down from their jaws and hitting the floor. Their claws were raised and their tails were whipping side to side. The diamond teeth glistened almost like they were grinning at me, like Xaez did.

I stared for a few more seconds before turning, it was so fast that I thought I was going to trip over my own feet. I sprinted as fast as I could and instead of going down the corridor back to my room I ran toward the Mess Hall that was a few halls away.

My fear and adrenaline made me much faster.

"Xaez!" I yelled for my friend and tried to see if he'd come to me, "Xaez, where are you?!" I shrieked as I heard more Xenomorphs. They were screeching and hissing and I could hear them crawling on the walls behind me.

I turned down another hall, glancing back for just a second. The Xenomorphs were extremely close now, just a few feet away, their claws were leaving massive scratch marks on the walls as they pounced and screeched.

 _'Just run and don't stop, rule number 1, NEVER turn around'_ I had learned it from a video game but I never thought that it'd come in handy in real life. I looked away and forward, two more corridors until the Mess hall.

I forced myself to move faster as I turned a corner and nearly smashed into the wall, now I could see some Marines, they were at the end of the last hall. They saw me and ran toward me. Then they stopped and raised their weapons, horror was on their faces.

"Xenomorphs!" One screamed, "Open fire!"

I shrieked as the Marines fired, the shots missed me but I could feel them flying past my skull. "Xaez!" I called again, I didn't care if the Marines heard me, "Xaez!". I made it to the end of the hall and as I turned I bumped into someone. I yelped as I fell to the ground.

"Who's Xaez?" I looked up and saw Prone, he extended his hand to help me up.

I opened my mouth to say something but instead said nothing and grabbed his hand. He pulled me to my feet. "Where do we go?" I asked.

Prone looked behind himself, at the mess hall door, "There is an emergency exit it in the Mess Hall, we'll leave through those okay?" He looked at the Marines that were still firing. "Do you have your pistols?"

"No." I began to walk toward the mess hall but Prone grabbed my wrist.

"Wait," He said, "The Armory is just a few corridors away, we can make it there, grab your guns, and leave this place. Come on." He walked to where the other Marines were, "I'm heading to the Armory, I'll be back in five."

He began to jog down the opposite hall, I chased after him. "What's a Corridor?"

He glanced down at me, "A hall basically." He looked forward again and lifted his assault rifle, "Stay close to me, Xenomorphs are everywhere now."

We both jogged down the Corridors, we could still hear the Xenomorphs screeching and hissing some snarled loud enough to make the ground shake slightly. _'What creature can make a noise that loud?'_ Prone seemed uneasy when ever he heard the snarls, and appeared to shiver a bit.

I tried to remember what Prone told me about the Xenomorphs and how there were different kinds of them _. 'Praetorian and Queen? Yeah I think that was it. Maybe the snarls are from those things. He said they were big so wouldn't they be loud too?'_

Prone didn't look back no matter what noises he heard, he just kept going and didn't stop. It didn't take long until we reached the Armory and now Prone seemed even more unsettled.

As I saw the door I opened it and walked in, there were weapons all over the place. I went to the pistols. Prone was holding onto my backpack, probably to make sure he could pull me back if he had to.

I grabbed the pistols that looked like my old ones and looked back at Prone. "What's wrong?" I asked as I holstered them and looked for extra magazines.

"We didn't see a single Xenomorph on the way here," He glanced at the door, "Somethings not right. Please hurry."

I grabbed as many Magazines as I could and put them on my belt and into the pistols, "Okay, go."

We walked out of the Armory and half way down the corridor all the lights went out causing me to yelp in fear. "Shit!" Prone cursed, "They cut the power." He flicked on his shoulder light and immediately dragged me into a run.

"Ahh!" I screamed as I began to run with him. Now the Xenomorphs seemed to be getting louder and smarter. I could hear them behind us now, screeching and snarling. "Prone!" I yelled, "They're behind us!"

Prone glanced back and fired a couple times, "There are too many to take out, just keep running and don't stop!" We ran back to the Mess Hall only to find that more than half of the Marines had been killed.

Blood was splattered against the walls and the last two remaining Marines were huddled by the Mess Hall doors. Their faces were covered in blood and they we screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs.

"Prone! Run now!" A female Marine shrieked, "Get through these doors before he notices you!"

At the word "he" I glanced to the other end of the corridor. A massive Xenomorph was there who had a head crest and looked like it was bigger then the hall itself.

It seemed to duck and had a massive tail swaying side to side. Xenomorphs were crawling by it, protecting it. I squinted and even though it was exetremely dark I could see that it only had two arms, and massive back spikes.

Xenomorphs were crawling all over it, they all turned to look at Prone and I.

I swallowed and stared up at Prone. He was wide eyed with his mouth gaping. "Praetorian..." He wrapped his hand around my wrist and ran straight toward the doors. The Xenomorphs behind us screeched louder as they also saw the Praetorian.

"Let's go!" Prone smashed open the doors and ran toward the exit. The Marines followed behind him, slamming the door shut as they did so.

The Xenomorphs didn't need much effort to break through the doors again. The Praetorian was right behind them, it snarled loudly and Prone, the Marines, and I turned to stare up at it.

It opened it's jaw and screeched, saliva flying out as it outstretched miniture jaw. Xenomorphs screeched with it, surrounded us, they didn't attack but they made sure there was no place we could go to hide.

"Take out your gun." Prone said and pushed me behind him, "When I say fire, we shoot that thing."

The Marines stepped beside Prone and raised their weapons, Prone did the same. I took out the pistol, shaking violently. _'I didn't think it'd be that big...'_ I was breathing heavily now.

The Praetorian took a step forward. Prone yelled, "Fire! Fire, now!" Everyone shot at it.

The Praetorian hissed and lunged. It's claws reached out toward the female Marine but she jumped back and fired some more, the bullets bouncing off of it's head crest.

I fired three times, one hit to the chest. It screeched in pain and ran at me. I yelped and ran to the right.

Prone fired at it's head to get it's attention and ran the opposite way. "Aim for the chest, that seems to be the weak spot."

The Praetorian turned to him and charged, whipping it's tail causing Prone to dive to the ground to dodge. Instead it tore the other Marine in half, his guts went flying into the wall and his blood splattered onto the floor.

I gagged and ducked behind a table. The Xenomorphs stared at me with their mouths open as they snarled. _'Why aren't they attacking? Are they testing us?'_ I tilted my head at them and looked back at the Praetorian. It was going after Prone again.

I fired my pistol five more times and hit it in the stomach and chest. It snarled and whipped around toward me, then the female Marine fired from the other side, and Prone from the left. The Praetorian spun, beginning to look disoriented. It couldn't decide who to attack.

The female marine then shot at the Xenomorphs standing by the exit. "Go! Prone! Take the kid and go!"

The Xenomorphs snarled and leapt at her. Prone hesitated for a fraction of a second before bolting toward me, "Let's go, Kat!" He ran past me and I followed him.

The Xenomorphs were going crazy now. They were lunging and screeching with anger. The last Marine looked right into my eyes as I ran to the exit. I stared at her with sadness.

"Go!" She yelled one more time and lifted her left hand. She was holding a grenade. She pulled the pin and released the trigger.

"Kat!" Prone yelled again and covered my eyes just as I heard the explosion. He dragged me out of the Mess Hall. "We have to go, the Xenomorphs will be after us now."

I swallowed and nodded. I looked around at the base for a few more seconds, Xenomorphs were crawling all over it, I could hear screams of pain, screeches and snarls. Tears welled in my eyes and I looked up at Prone, "Where-" I sniffed, "Where do... we go?"

"There's a Jeep over there." He pointed some where to his left. "I have the keys we can leave with that." He put a hand on my shoulder, "Everything will be okay Kat, I promise you."

I nodded and Prone began to run.

I followed him and raised my pistols. Prone held his rifle, shooting at all the near by Xenomorphs. Their acid sprayed out everywhere but we jumped over the bodies. I shot four times at a Xenomorph running toward us, I missed once but the other three hit it in the head and arms.

It dropped to the ground and began to melt away.

 _'Everything is going to be okay, Prone said it was.'_ Suddenly I remembered who I was supposed to find. _'Xaez'_

I halted to a stop, turning around. Prone stopped and looked back at me, "What are you doing?" he asked as he walked over to me and grabbed my wrist, "We have to go, the Xenomorphs-"

"Xaez, I have to find Xaez!" I stared at the over run base and tried to go to it.

"No Kat! We can look for him later, we have to go." He paused for a second, "If you go you can die and you'll never find him."

I whimpered, tears running down my face. _'He's right, I can't find him if i'm dead.'_ I turned back toward the Jeep, "Fine let's go."

Prone smiled at me, "Hey, remember what I said, we'll be okay." We ran to the Jeep and I jumped into the passenger seat.

"You have everything in your backpack right?" Prone asked.

I nodded, _'Xaez...'_ I holstered my pistols, "Yeah, come on we should go before they get her-" Suddenly blood, brain and guts splashed over my face and my eyes widened in complete horror.

Prone's body flopped down into the drivers seat, his head was completely destroyed.

I looked up and saw Xaez standing over his body, he was grinning at me with his blood stained teeth and face. He hissed softly and turned around and took a few steps away.

 _'Prone!'_ I wanted to scream but nothing came out, everything was happening too fast, it felt like I couldn't breathe. I tried to move, my body wasn't listening to me, I was completely frozen and now I was crying uncontrollably.

Tears kept running down my face but I wasn't making any sounds, no sniffling or cries.

Xaez looked back at me once he noticed I wasn't moving. He screeched expectantly and when I didn't reply he stepped back to me.

He made something like a twitter and stared at me. He hissed again. I didn't move. He lifted me up and held me close to him and jumped up onto the Jeep.

Xaez held the hook of my backpack in one claw and the other claw around my waist to keep me up. He screeched one last time, looked at the base, and ran straight into the forest. He looked down at me as he ran and kept trying to screech to me, to try and get me to reply to him.

 _'He killed him, he killed Prone right in front of me. I told him I liked him, why did he just kill him?'_ More tears ran down my face and I looked up at Xaez just for a few seconds then looked away from him. _'I don't want to look at him, he betrayed me, he killed my friend... but why is he saving me?'_

I tried to shake the words out of my head. He may be saving me but I would've been safe with Prone too. _'I can't forgive him, I know I can't...'_ But something else was telling me otherwise, _'But I have to, he's the only one I have left'_

Xaez wasn't looking at me anymore, just running farther and farther away from the base. All I had to do was wait for him to put me down and then I could try and think more clearly about what had just happened.

 _'I don't know what to do now'_


	12. CH 12: Lost

I sobbed and shook uncontrollably against a tree, hugging my knees and whimpering for several minutes.

Xaez was sitting in front of me, he was watching with his head tilted, he didn't seem to know what to do.

I didn't look at him, I didn't want to see him after what happened to Prone. I covered my blood stained face with my hands and tried to speak, "Wh-... Xaez W-" I choked on the words and cried again.

Xaez crooned softly. I still didn't look up at him.

I cried for a few hours until I finally ran out of tears. Now I was staring at the dirt with Xaez in my peripheral view. The image of Prone's head exploding was still engraved in my mind, I shook my head to try and get it out but it wouldn't go away.

My guns were still holstered and I looked down at them. _'Xaez killed Prone... he killed him... he didn't even seem to hesitate, my friend just killed my other friend. The one who was like my dad...'_ My hands clenched into fists. _'I should kill him... If he killed Prone then if I find someone else that I like he'll kill them too.'_

I whimpered and looked up at Xaez. He looked at me expectantly and hissed. _'He killed him.'_ I looked back down at my holsters. I unholstered one of the pistols and sat it down on my lap. _'But Xaez is the only one I have left.'_

 _'Just do it and get it over with, you can't trust him anymore.'_ Xaez was staring now, his mouth was closed and he seemed to be a little tense.

 _'You have to do it.'_ I tried to convince myself, lifting the pistol. I stood up and backed up toward the tree. I lifted it up just a bit and brought it back down again, _'You have to.'_ I held my breath and aimed it at Xaez.

Now Xaez snarled and stood up as well. His teeth were bared and his claws were raised but he didn't attack me. His tail wasn't moving at all, it was lying on the ground.

"You kn- You know I have to." Tears began to run down my face again, "You killed my friend Xaez!" I walked closer to him close enough that I could shoot him in the head and not miss. Xaez screeched lowered his claws, he stared at me and repeatedly hissed.

 _'Just do it now before he tries something, you know he will.'_ I held my breath as more tears ran down my face. _'But I can't, he's the only one I have left, he protected me and saved me from the other Xenomorphs, if I kill him I won't have anyone left.'_

I whimpered and whispered to myself, "I have too."

Xaez took a few steps forward, he was close enough that he could grab me now. I tensed up and held the pistol more tightly, "Please Xaez, I want this to be easy, you know I have to." _'But he's my friend too'._

Xaez growled lowly and lowered his head a little so that his was level with mine. It seemed that he was just waiting now, waiting for me to take the shot and end it once and for all. But I still had the gun aimed and kept trying to convince myself to do it.

 _'You know what he did, nothing will bring Prone back, he's irrplaceable and you know it. He killed the last human friend you had and now you're alone with this Alien with you're gun to his head, just pull the trigger and walk away.'_

But that other side kept fighting me.

 _'Xaez is your friend, you kill him you'll be lost and alone. He killed Prone but he protected you and saved you, you know it. You can't kill him now, where else can you go on your own? You'll die without him.'_

I put my finger to the trigger and put the tip of the gun against his head, I knew that his blood would hit me but I didn't care anymore, I already had one of my friends blood on me. I sucked in another breath and closed my eyes while flicking off the safety.

The pistol felt heavy in my hand now, but I still held it up. I wasn't shaking anymore, I knew what I had to do. I pressed it up against his head, exactly on the X that I had drawn on him. I could see how stiff he was now, not moving at all. _'I'm sorry.'_

Xaez gave out one last soft screech. _'Don't do it.'_

Tears streamed down my cheeks, "Why? Why did you do it!?" Xaez hissed and nudged my shoulder with his head. He made that little twitter. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not, I'd expect that he would be but instead he seemed to be trying to cheer me up.

"I don't want to see you..." I whimpered lowering my gun, and turned away from him trying to find the strength to keep standing. It took some effort, but I went to my backpack and started to look through it. The military had taken my food from it which I didn't appreciate at all, I growled to myself and wiped away some tears.

Prone was still in my head, like he was still here and I could just turn around and tell him that we needed to get food. I shook my head, _'Prone's gone, he's not coming back... All I have is Xaez now... My friend killing pet...'_

Xaez screeched to try and get my attention. I still didn't look at him, "Xaez, please, shut up... we need more food..." I closed and swung my backpack around my back, holstered my pistol, and started to walk off in the direction that I thought would bring me to a store.

"Let's go Xaez..." I looked at him but only for a few seconds before I turned back to walk.

He stayed silent, just following me. I knew he was, I could hear the soft crunching while he walked on the leaves and twigs.

 _'At least he listened to me... I have to forgive him. He protected me before and he'll protect me again, I know he will.'_ I sighed, tears were still running down my face, _'Xaez and I, we'll make it through this, I can learn to trust him again.'_

I looked back at him again, his markings were beginning to fade, not so badly that I'd have to remark him, but enough that the little glow wasn't there anymore. _'He'll protect me'_ I peered down at my watch, 2:39 PM. _'I still have plenty of time to grab what I need before it gets dark.'_

"Xaez." I called to him although I knew he wouldn't answer, "Where do you think we should go to sleep when it gets dark? You know the other Xenomorphs so you should know where they won't go."

Xaez made a quiet growl and stepped up beside me. He looked at me and did that little grin of his.

I tried to resist smiling with my tear stained face but I couldn't resist. _'I couldn't of survived without him.'_

He ran a bit ahead of me like he used to when he was a 'chestburster'. _'He's just going to lead me to the store like usual'_ I smiled, "Just run Xaez, I think I need a little jog."

Xaez screeched, now louder and did as told. He sprinted off toward the left and I followed behind him. It felt good to run now, to get my mind off of things. The thoughts still lingered in my mind though, _'Prone and my family are gone, everyone is gone...'_ I shook my head, _'No, you have Xaez, he is your family, he'll protect you and you'll protect him. You don't need anyone else.'_

I looked down at the ground as I ran, I made sure I didn't trip over any roots or face plant into a tree. We ran for about ten minutes before I ran out of breath and stopped to lean against a tree. "Wait, Xaez." I called to him.

Xaez paused and looked back at me. He tilted his head and looked forward.

"I just need a break, I'm tired..." I tried to catch my breath, "See any stores?"

He slowly nodded and dropped to all fours. He stayed low and crept up to the tree line. "What's wrong?" He snarled lowly, then leapt behind a tree and looked over at me.

I stood silently, puzzled. _'What is he doing?'_ I took a few steps toward him and then knew what he was hiding from. People.

There was a group of them, around four, one looked like he was hurt. He was limping and two others, both guys, were holding him up. They were going toward that store that Xaez had indicated was there.

"What do we do?" I crept up next to him and ducked behind the tree. I looked at him expectantly.

Xaez bared his teeth and growled lowly. Drool was now dripping down his mouth and I knew what he wanted to do. "Xaez, no, you're not killing them."

The people were talking and I perked up to listen. "You think it's safe here?" One of the guys asked.

"Yeah," A girl replied, "Doesn't look like it's been looted yet, and if any of those things cross our path we could just shoot them." I peeked and saw the woman holding a C8A3 Carbine Rifle, the weapon that Prone had.

The hurt man replied, "You sure? We only got two guns, if a pack of them come in like they did before we're screwed."

"If a big pack comes in, we run, no questions asked. We'll just grab some food, stay the night, and leave in the morning."

"Xaez," I whispered, "Should I show myself? I can stay with them and get some food, then leave while they're sleeping."

Xaez hissed softly and seemed to go a bit tense, then growled and nodded.

I nodded back to him and slowly got up. I took a few steps toward the tree line and immediately the people looked my way. _'Probably heard me.'_ The Woman raised the Carbine to the trees, I heard her suck in a breath.

"Don't shoot." I put my hands in the air and stepped out into the open.

"Oh my God." The woman stared in surprise, she lowered her weapon and took a few steps toward me. "Are you okay?" She said in a calm tone.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I looked at everyone, one of the guys was holding a pistol in his hand, the others didn't have any weapon. "I'm Kat, I've been out here in the woods ever since this all happened, I was at a millitary base but it got overrun..."

"It's okay, you can stay with us," The woman smiled, "My name is Amy, these are Joe, Derek, and Vaxer."

 _'Oh no.'_ I looked back at the forest when I heard a silent hiss, "Okay, I-I guess I can stay with you." I looked down at my pistols and back up at Amy, "But only if you promise not to shoot me in the back." I was lying, I knew that if I stayed with them Xaez would get angry, or maybe even try to kill them like he did to Prone.

 _'Grab food, wait till they fall asleep, and leave in the night... I hope Xaez remembers that.'_

"You look like you're armed to the teeth, I wouldn't even think of doing something like that, especially to a kid... How have you survived this long on your own?" She looked at the guys, "We had a bigger group before, about five of us were killed four days ago."

"I had a Marine friend with me... and I have another but he's not here." I tried not to look back at the forest. "Did you get overrun?"

The wounded man, Vaxer, replied, "Yeah, those things got my sister and dad."

"Xenomorphs..." I said offhandedly.

"What?"

"Those things are called Xenomorphs... I've been really close to them before." I tried not to look back at the forest.

"How do you know that they're calle-" Amy went wide-eyed and walked back, she raised her carbine, "Run kid."

"What?" I looked back, Xaez was right behind me, his teeth were bared and he was snarling. "Xaez!" I looked back at Amy, I was in her way, she couldn't shoot at him with me being there.

"Run! That thing will kill you!"

"No! He won't, Xaez is okay, he's my friend, he won't attack." I stared back at him, "Xaez please."

Drool was dripping down his jaw, he snarled again and tried to take a step toward the people. I put myself between them so that he couldn't get them. "Please don't shoot him, he's all I have left!"

Amy and Derek aimed their weapons at Xaez, "What!? Wh- Kat, honey just come over here, ok?" She took a step toward me.

 _'You can't let her kill your last friend, you'll be alone forever.'_ I growled and lifted one of my pistols, "No! He won't hurt you if you just listen to me, he's saved me before, please just listen!"

Amy was silent for a moment, just looking at me with anguish in her eye's.


	13. CH 13: Chaos

"He's protected me ever since all of this happened!" I slid my backpack off and glanced back at Xaez quicky before fixing my gaze on Amy.

Amy looked at Xaez just for a few seconds, as she did so Xaez screeched and bared his teeth. "That thing will tear us part, sweetie, please, just come over to me." She took another step forward.

I swallowed, trying to figure out what to do. Vaxer was hopping on one leg now, as Derek moved beside Amy, he whispered something to her and took a small step away.

 _'They want to kill him... I can't let them kill him... they can try to protect me but they can't keep the Xenomorphs away.'_ My pistol was still raised, aimed right at Amy, I looked down at it to make sure the safety was off, just in case. "I don't want you to kill him, he's all I have!"

"Kat..." Amy said soothingly, "We won't okay. Just put the gun down and come over here, we can go looking in the store now, I promise we won't hurt him." she paused, glancing nervously over at Derek and Vaxer, "Wh-where did he go?"

 _'What?'_ I turned and noticed that Xaez wasn't there anymore. "Xaez?" I yelled, keeping Amy in view.

Derek and Vaxer looked around uneasily. "I didn't see him leave," Derek lifted his gun and fearfully scanned the treeline, "I'll keep an eye out for him."

I growled, "No don't! Don't shoot at him!"

Amy looked back at me, "We won't I promise, but we have to make sure he doesn't do anything bad, okay?" Derek was spinning in circles staring at the surrounding forest. Vaxer was sitting on the ground staring to the right.

 _'What is Xaez doing? Did he just decide to leave?'_ Now I was curious and began to look around as well, but I always made sure Amy in my peripheral view.

Derek turned over to Amy, "I don't see him anywh-."

He gurgled as blood erupted out of his mouth. Time seemed to move in slow motion, I saw Xaez rise up right behind him, just out of nowhere. He had that grin on his face as he lunged forward and bit down onto Derek's neck, his tail tearing through his chest.

Amy screamed, quickly turned and lunged at me. I yelped and swung around, suddenly hearing a gunshot. I looked at Amy, she had a stunned look on her face, crimson blood soaking through a small hole in her chest as she slumped to the ground, motionless. "No!" I screamed in horror and fell down to the ground. ' _I.. I killed her.'_

Xaez dug his claws into Derek's back and ripped him right in half. His blood splashed over Vaxer who was now scrambling away while screaming in terror. I stared in complete shock as Xaez slowly moved toward Vaxer, his grin bigger then ever.

"Xaez!" I screamed.

He ignored me and continued toward Vaxer. Xaez snarled as he dug his jaws into Vaxer's shoulder. "HELP!" Vaxer shrieked in agony as Xaez began to rip into his flesh.

I could hear it starting to tear and I covered my ears and closed my eyes. I curled up into a ball and began to cry while trying to ignore the sounds. _'I just want this all to be over... This is all my fault, if I had just killed Xaez in the forest I'd be completely fine none of this would have happened._ '

Xaez was making a lot of noise now. I could hear tearing, gurgling, crunching, and Vaxer's piercing screaming. I opened my eyes for just a few seconds.

He was tearing Vaxer apart piece by piece, he had taken off one of his arms and was digging into his torso, eating him alive. I shrieked and closed my eyes again. _'Why!? Why did Xaez just do this! I told him not too, he ignored me and slaughtered them!'_

Vaxer's screams turned into high pitched shrieks, there was more gurgling and snapping. _'Just stop Xaez!'_ I waited for the screams to end before opening my eyes again. Xaez was eating what was left of him. His disemboweled body had an arm and a leg torn off. _'This is all my fault.'_

I looked, sniffed and whimpered and scrambled away into the store. _'I should have never picked Xaez up... I should have never trusted him! He killed Prone and he attacked this group. I didn't do anything when Xaez attacked Derek and Vaxer, and I _killed Amy_... Why does this have to happen.' _

I looked down at my holstered pistols and ran to a corner in the store. I covered my face and slid down onto the floor. _'I would've been so much better without Xaez, but I can't leave him. I love him, he's my friend and my pet.'_ I remember that I had left my backpack outside where Xaez was.

"No," I said to myself, "Don't go back out there, Xaez is still there." That's when I heard a soft hiss and something hit the floor in front of me. I slowly looked up and saw Xaez holding my backpack with his tail and a arm on the ground in front of him.

He tilted his head and dropped my pack onto the floor. He lied down on the ground and began to gnaw on the arm.

I looked away, stood up, and whispered, "You're a monster Xaez..." I walked off down the aisles and looked for food. _'You killed Amy because of him, you should just leave while he's busy... But my backpack is with him and he always protects me'_ I stared at the shelves with canned food, canned peas, canned beans, and canned corn.

The canned corn just reminded me of Prone, the time he had traded his food for mine. I sighed and took as much food as I could and headed back to Xaez. He was still eating the arm. I tried not to focus on him and went to my backpack, I shoved the food into it and went off down the aisles again.

 _'Just need some more food and then I'll be off...'_ I checked my watch, 4:16 PM. _'Maybe I'll take a nap too...'_ I continued to go down the aisles, I grabbed some more cans and two boxes of cereal. I went back and shoved them into my backpack. Now I sat on the floor staring down at the tiles. _'It's all my fault, what will people think of me now? My friend killed everyone and _I killed Amy_ , I should stay away from people.' _

I heard a growl and I looked up. Xaez was sitting in front of me with the arm in his mouth... or the bone of the arm, his head was tilted, he almost looked like a dog holding a chew toy in it's mouth. "Before we go," I said quietly, "I want to get some sleep."

Xaez screeched and crawled off somewhere.

I walked over to a corner and lied down to sleep. I stared at my backpack and tried not to think of what happened. _'This is all your fault.'_ I closed my now tear filled eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up I immediately looked down at my watch, 7: 24 PM. I had slept in longer then I had wanted too. I looked side to side trying to find Xaez. "Xaez!" I called. No response. I got up and swung my backpack around my shoulder. "Xaez!" I called out again as I began to walk to the exit of the store.

 _'Where did he go now?'_ I walked to the exit and peeked outside, it was starting to get dark out but I could still see Xaez curled up beside the corpse of Derek. I closed my eyes. _'He wouldn't have died if it wasn't for me.'_

"Xaez..." I said, not opening my eyes, "Come on, we have to go." Xaez screeched quietly and I could hear him get up. I opened my eyes but only slighty. He was standing near the forest now with his head tilted as he stared at me. I walked up to him, "Lead the way."

 _'At least he seems less... aggressive, unlike yesterday. But that's probably just because he doesn't have anyone else to kill, other then me.'_ I watched the ground as I walked, Xaez right in front of me, he seemed to hiss once and a while and I was tempted to ask why. _'Although he can't even give me an answer.'_

I took a few more steps then yelped as I fell into the dirt, I had tripped over a root. "Ow!" Xaez growled in alarm and swung around, he looked down at me as I tried to get back onto my feet. "Don't worry, just tripped," I grunted as I got up, "I can't see anything, give me a second, I think I still have my flashlight in my backpack."

I set my backpack on the ground and began to feel around inside until I felt the the metal and rubber of the flashlight. I got back up and clicked it on, then zipped up my bag and swung it around my back again.

Xaez looked at me expectantly, "Okay go." He screeched his approval and began to walk again.

 _'I still can't believe he did that,'_ I was lying to myself again, _'You knew he would do that, he's a Xenomorph, he's going to kill anyone that will try to take you away from him. But he's my friend, he protected me, he's always protected me, without him I'll die. But he kills everyone I love.'_

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts but it wasn't working, instead I just tried to focus on walking. Now Xaez was being quiet, other then his extremely heavy breathing.

We walked for at least another hour and I was feeling a bit better, Xaez was jumping around the trees, I guessed that he was trying to be goofy. I was just walking and following him to where ever he wanted to take me.

Sometimes I'd try to imitate the screeches that he did but every time I messed up it seemed like he was laughing at me. He'd just jump up, screech, and whip his tail.

I was surprised that no other Xenomorphs crossed our path, I thought they would have 'seen' my light from the flashlight or heard me and Xaez 'talking' to each other. I just shrugged it off. _'Maybe they do sleep at night.'_

All of a sudden I noticed some faint lights up ahead. I squinted and made sure I wasn't imagining them. "Xaez? You see that?" I asked stepping towards them a little bit.

Xaez growled and looked in the direction, he didn't seem happy again.

"Shh." I walked up a bit more and flicked off my flashlight, I peeked around a tree and saw a massive field. There were tents, military tents, set up in the middle of it with a massive vehicle right next to it. I could see a few people walking around and yelling to each other, wandering around the lights that were set up around the site.

I stared in amazement for a few seconds and was about to go running toward the area but I stopped myself. _'Xaez'_ I looked at my Xenomorph that stood beside me. _'I can't go there, Xaez would slaughter them all. Besides, what would they think of me? I killed Amy. I watched and let Xaez kill people, kill Prone. If I go there, I know what will happen. I know what he'll do. What i'll do.'_

Xaez growled again and looked at me. I paused, _'I should go, the longer we stay the more likely he'll kill him.'_ I looked back at Xaez, "Come on," I said quietly, "Let's go before they see us, I don't want to get picked up by any other Marine."

I turned and walked away from the field, following the tree line. Xaez seemed much happier about what I decided to do. I hated how I couldn't do what I really wanted to, but he was the only one that could protect me the most.

 _'Let's just hope I don't do anything else wrong...'_


	14. CH 14: Still Alive

**So I'm very confused by peoples confusion but I'm going to try and answer it anyway XD Xaez is very possessive of Kat and she's so traumatized from recent events that she could be suffering from a kind of stockholm syndrome or shock. Not sure if that really answers anything but I'm confused by people at the moment soooo... yaaaa... hope it helps. (Tell me if it doesn't XD and if it doesn't; explain to me everything that is confusing you and I'll try to answer it better)**

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Xaez and I were about half way around the base. I kept looking at it while we walked. _'They wouldn't want me if they knew what I've done, they'd never like me. They'd probably kill me if they found out... Even if they didn't Xaez would kill them.'_

I looked over at Xaez who was just a few feet in front of me, he seemed less agitated and I was happy about that. I looked at the markings I had left on his back and ankles, the ones on his spikes were still there but the ones on his ankles were covered with mud and looked like they were beginning to fade.

"Hey Xaez." He looked over at me but continued to walk. "We should get some more spray paint, your markings are going to end up fading sooner or later."

Xaez growled and nodded at me. He looked forward again. _'I wonder where he's taking me too, he leads me places but I still don't know where we're headed exactly.'_ It seemed really quiet, with only the sound of my muddy shoes crunching leaves and twigs.

Xaez stopped and growled, I didn't notice at first, but as it got louder I could hear a chorus of hissing coming from the bushes and trees all around us.

"More Xenomorphs?" I asked walking up next to him, I looked around and tried to find out where they were. Xaez hissed softly to me. _'Great... Maybe it'd be better if a Xenomorph killed me, then Xaez wouldn't hurt anyone else, and I wouldn't either...'_

I took out one of my pistols and held it in my hand. _'But thats a terrible way to die... Those people, Prone, Mom, Dad... There all gone._ ' The hisses and screeches were getting louder now, and I could see shapes moving amongst the tree's.

I screamed with surprise and fell back as the Xenomorphs suddenly leapt out of the shadows. "Xaez!" I shouted frantically, I could see three of them making their way towards us.

They were all screeching and snarling and I shot wildly at any that tried to get close. I tried to push away from them, but one pinned me to the ground. It was so heavy that I could hardly breathe, then it was suddenly torn off as Xaez slammed into it, tearing into it's flesh as it squealed in agony.

He turned from its remains and hissed at the other two Xenomorphs and tried to keep their attention, swaying his head from side to side. I looked around and saw two more Xenomorph's coming toward us, they slowly circled back and forth as Xaez moved between them and me.

Two of them made a move and Xaez intercepted them, but the other two headed towards me. I sighted one of them with my pistol and fired several rounds, one of the shots hitting it in the head spraying acid across the ground and leaves.

Abruptly I was smashed into a tree, my pistol falling out of my hands. I grunted and fell to the ground, feeling light headed and dizzy. I looked up, the Xenomorph was right on top of me, pinning me down by the shoulders. It drooled as it slowly opened it's mouth, and I could see its tiny jaws.

I tried to wrench free of its grip and cried out in pain as it dug its claws deeper, I started to feel warm blood running down my shoulder. I struggled and thrashed against it, but it hurt so much. I stopped and slowly looked up, all I could see were those tiny jaws. I closed my eye's, and hoped it wouldn't hurt anymore.

I heard a shot and felt its claws wrench painfully to the side, I opened my eye's and saw the Xenomorph next to me, dead. I sat there against the tree and looked around dazed, and I could see three Marines moving in between bursts of covering fire. My shoulders hurt, my left one wasn't too bad, but my right shoulder had large scratches and blood was soaking through my jacket.

I saw one of the Xenomorphs hit the ground spraying acid and viscera from its torso right next to Xaez.. He screeched as he saw the encroaching Marines, he moved towards me for a moment before retreating to the trees. The other Xenomorph snarled and leapt at them, it didn't get far, its shoulder and left side getting raked by burst fire. The marines kept firing as it thrashed, spraying blood that spawned plumes of acrid smoke as it scorched forest debris.

Then everything was quiet again. One of the Marines made some hand motions, and the other two took up positions and started watching the forest. He came over and knelt down beside me, looking me over. "Hey, you still with us?", he said as he waved his hand in front of me, snapping his fingers.

I tried not to look at him, and just stared down at the ground terrified. _'No! Just go away! Just go away.. Xaez will come back, I know he will. Just go away... Please...'_

He reached out and shook my shoulder, "Hey, can you hear me?" I winced in pain and tried to move away, "Well that answers that, are you hurt anywhere else? Can you walk?". I just wanted them to leave, it felt like I was being crushed inside. _'This is all my fault..'_

I just stared blankly. "Are you out here alone? Is there anyone else with you?" He asked. The question unsettled me and I shifted uncomfortably. _'There was... Amy, Derek... Vaxer...'_

He signaled one of the other marines to come over, and they started whispering to each other, sometimes looking back at me. It was like a group of popular kids gossiping about a different kid.

 _'What are they talking about?... Maybe they know what I did back at the store! Maybe they saw me and followed me and Xaez over here.'_ Just for a moment I was beginning to panic but I tried to stay calm, _'They couldn't have, Xaez wouldn've seen them coming... he would've killed them...'_

I swallowed and suddenly felt my shoulder throb again. I closed my eyes to try and make it feel like the pain wasn't there. It hurt way to much, and I felt so tired.

"You okay?" I lazily opened my eye's at the sound of his voice, both of them were looking intently at me. I heard the Marines whisper to each other again. I tried to listen to them but they were being to quiet.

"Right, we need to get you checked out.", The marine who was crouched in front of me reached over and took my hands, gently pulling me up to stand beside him. I stumbled abit, and my legs felt like bricks. He steadied me by putting his hand on my back and we started walking towards the lights of the military camp.

He snapped his fingers and made some hand motions, the third marine left his position and fell in behind us as we walked. ' _Xaez isn't going to like this, maybe I can make a run for it through the woods? Its dark and they'd have a hard time finding me if I hid somewhere.'_ I felt really tired though and didn't want to run, my feet dragging as I walked.

 _'Maybe I can try what I did last time, stay and leave when they sleep, I don't think Xaez will want to tangle with a bunch of Marines.'_ I just focused on the ground ahead of me and worked on putting one foot in front of the other. _'I should go, and leave... Hopefully this time this plan will actually work properly.'_

I looked up and suddenly we were at the tree line and I could see the lights of the base I had seen earlier. The one I had tried to avoid. I nervously glanced back at the forest. Xaez was no where to be found. _'He'll come back, he always does... But he might come back angry.'_

We crossed the field towards the base and I noticed there weren't as many people as I thought there would be, there were close to a dozen not including the three with me. Some were on watch, others messing with equipment, or around a big Vehicle. Some of them looked at us, me, as we approached.

"Kat?" I fixed my eyes on the person who said my name, staring blankly. There staring back at me, was my brother Roman.


	15. CH 15: Safe?

All I could do is stare blankly, I just wanted to break down and cry. He seemed different, he was wearing a military combat vest over his torn filthy jeans and t-shirt, the same black hair and green eye's. It was the tone of his voice though, the way he moved towards me asking a million questions, "Jesus, where have you been? What happened? Kat? Are you ok? Say something?".

I wondered how different I looked. "Hold up, you saying this girl is your sister you've been talking about?" It was hard to keep track of everything they were saying, my shoulder hurt and everything was getting fuzzy.

One of the other marines that escorted me chimed in, "Wow, small world after all. What'd you do, carpet-bomb a village of leprechauns for luck like this?"

"Very funny Stephen.." I tried to keep up with their conversation, but felt so sleepy. It was like everyone was talking far away really quietly. I don't really remember what happened, I must have blacked out since the next thing I knew someone was standing over me.

"...be shock, Emmanuel take her to quarantine, Stephen, get Vance."

Roman seemed worried, "Quarantine? Porter..."

The marine named Porter standing next to him sighed, "I'm sorry, but we can't take any chances." Roman didn't say anything. The marine named Emmanuel gently picked me up and quietly carried me to a small tent away from the others.

I felt like sleeping, he put me down on a cot inside and I started to drift off when another Marine came in and dismissed Emmanuel. "Hey there, Kat is it? Name's Vance, I'm just going to tend to your injuries, so lets take a look shall we?" He sat down in a chair next to me and took off my jacket and vest , then tried to take my shirt off.

 _'Wait.. What's he doing!?'_ I pushed his hands away and struggled to get him to stop. "Now, hey, quit fussing here, I need your shirt off so I can clean and stitch those scratches." This seemed really creepy, I didn't want him to take my shirt off and thrashed against him. "Hey, com'on now dammit!"

"Vat is going on in here?" The voice with the strange accent came from a woman standing in the doorway.

" _Ah christ._ Nothing Sasha, I'm just trying to tend to some injuries here."

"Clearly, here, let me help you." She walked over to the side of the cot.

"H-hey, I don't need your damn help Sasha!" I lay there and looked at her fearfully as she reached over and suddenly tore the sleeves right off my shirt. "Dat is how you remove shirt." He sat there motionless as she turned around and walked out of the tent, "Let me know if you need any more help, yes?"

"Well.. That's one way of doing it. Lets just get this over with, ok?" I drowsily lay there as he dabbed my scratches with antiseptic, I winced a bit as it hurt. Then he took out a curved needle and thread, ' _what's he going to do with that?'_

"Alright, I'm going to stitch those scratches, so this may hurt a bit." ' _Wait, what? No!'_ I whined as he loomed over me with the needle, and started crying as it pierced my skin as he worked it through. Then again, and again, and again...

My eyes fluttered open as light hit my face and I yawned as I tried to remember where I was. I looked down at my ripped shirt and the bandages on my shoulder, vaguely remembering someone giving me stitches. There was something about Roman? ' _Roman's here?'_ I thought about that for a moment, trying to digest it.

I shifted slightly on the cot, I was in a green military tent, sunlight peeking through the tent flaps that were moving slightly. My eye's drifted around the room and I noticed my backpack was sitting on a small bench that was a few feet away, next to the bench was a small hanger that held my vest and jacket. My knife and gun's were missing.

There was food and a bottle of water on the table next to the cot, what looked like pot-roast, mashed potatoes, corn, and a biscuit. I looked at the food hungrily and picked up the fork that was next to it, and stared quitely at the plate.

' _Xaez has to be okay, he ran off but this is not the first time he's ever done that. He always comes back, and when he does... people die. Roman's here, and all these marines. But how long? How long before they come and kill them all like they did at the base? How long before... before they come and kill Roman too?'_

I could feel the tears in my eye's, _'I can't.. I can't let them kill my brother. I have to do something, I have to leave this place. Xaez will come and kill everyone, I either leave... Or I tell them. They'll think I'm crazy, that... that _Xaez is my friend, _what I've done...__ '_

I put the fork down and sobbed quietly, "I can't stay... I... I can't stay..." and sat there and cried quietly into my hands.

After awhile I wiped my eye's and reluctantly got off the bed to put the bottle of water and hard biscuit in my backpack for later, ate what little I could of what was left then crept towards the flaps of the tent. I peeked outside, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the light, and saw all the people walking around, some talking to each other. I could see the large vehicle again that was next to my tent.

A marine, Stephen I think? He was leaning on it and was talking with someone. I stayed and looked out from behind the flaps of the tent and tried not to draw any attention, there was nothing moving along the edge of the forest, and no sign of Xaez. _'Is that a good thing or a bad thing?'_ I couldn't see Roman anywhere either.

I slowly walked outside the tent and tried to see if I could find Roman when I suddenly felt something grab my arm, "Hey Kid- uh... Kat, right?" I jumped in surprise and slowly turned around. It was Stephen, I looked away from him and tried to get out of his grip.

Instead, he just let go, "If yer looking for yer brother, I know where he is." I stood there motionless. Stephen smiled and walked toward the big vehicle "He's in the APC, I think he's talkin' to Vance 'bout somethin' but I don't know."

I quietly followed him. _'So that's what that thing is called, an APC, now all I have to do is figure out what that means..._ ' Stephen led me to the side of the APC and slid open a door before calling out to my brother, "Hey Roman! Yer sister is awake and I think she was lookin' for ya."

"Kat?" I heard Roman say as he came from what I thought was the front of the vehicle, he stopped right in the door opening and wrapped his arms around me. I slowly put my arm's around him, "Roman..." I whispered softly **.**

He took my hand and helped me into the APC, Stephen walked in too but went to talk to Vance who was sitting in the drivers seat further in. Roman sat down on one of the passenger seats, and I sat down on the seat opposite, "Where did you go?" he asked.

I looked at the floor and shyly shrugged, not sure of what to say. ' _What do I say? What can I say? I don't know why I ran away... I was scared, I was stupid, I didn't know what was going on... If I'd just stayed put maybe none of this would have happened...'_

We sat there quietly for awhile, then he got up and sat down in the chair next to me, putting his arms around me and holding me. "I missed you so much Kat, I thought I'd never see you again..." I buried my head in his chest, and the fear, sorrow, and guilt of everything bubbled up to the surface, I just couldn't stop myself from crying. ' _I don't want to go! I want to stay here with him! I want to stay here and I want this to all go away!'_

We sat there for a few minutes and held him tightly, not wanting the moment to ever end. Stephen showed up and sat down next to Roman. "Rom, we need ta start planin' when we're goin' ta leave, everyone else is freakin' out from the Xenos."

Roman didn't look up, instead he sighed and slowly said, "We'll...We'll have to ask Porter he should know when we're going."

Stephen nodded, "Ya know I always have ta ask ya first." He smiled and walked out of the APC.

Roman sighed again, "Maybe we can talk some more later. Anyway, how are the scratches? Do they hurt?" I wiped my eye's and shook my head a little bit, my shoulder was still a bit sore but it was ok. He got up taking my hand, and helped me out of the APC.

"I'll be back in a little bit, I have a few things to take care of, ok?", I nodded and he walked off towards some of the other tents. _'To bad I won't be staying.'_ Stephen escorted me back to the tent I had woken up in and I sat down next to it. _'There are so many Marines here though, maybe I could try sneaking away when its dark?'_

I looked up at everyone who walked past, there seemed to be around 6 regular people in the camp, a few other Jeeps and the APC. Stephen wasn't very far away, he was with someone with a lot of bars on the shoulder of his uniform. I vaguely remembered him, Roman came up and started talking to him too, maybe it was Porter?

I recognized Sasha right away, wandering around out in the field scanning the trees. It was kind of frustrating that the sleeves of my shirt were wrecked, but I didn't want to think about it. I looked around the rest of the camp. There was camo-netting all over the place, one of the tents looked like it was meant for all the Marines, the other looked like it was for the Civilians, then there was my tent. There was also a stack of metal containers the size of shoe boxes too. _'Why would they care to set up the tents like this when they could all just sleep in one tent?_

I sighed, time was passing faster now since my curiosity was quite entertained. There were so many things to look at, then there was the APC. It was right next to my tent, so I got up and wandered towards it. It was large and looked like a cross between a tank and an armored box, it had a muffler from a car up on its side. There was the heavy door at back between what looked like two nozzles. _'What's with that?'_ I tilted my head then looked at the tires, it had eight with heavy suspension on the front four tires.

"Strange." I whispered to myself.

I heard someone chuckle from behind me and I swung around to look at them. "Liking Kelly I see," Vance said with a big grin on his face, "We've learned to love her." I stood there petrified, remembering the haze of painful stitches. He stood awkwardly seeming to sense my discomfort, "Ah, I'm sorry about earlier, with the stitches and all.. I wish somebody else could've done it, but their all a bunch of ham-fisted grunts who couldn't tell the difference between a band-aid and a beer."

I relaxed a bit as he laughed, changing the subject, "Anyway, Kelly here's amphibious, which means she can go in water." Vance patted the APC, "She's the safest thing in this camp, nothing can get in her unless we keep the door open." The smile slightly faded from his lips, "Your brother was looking for you ever since this all happened."

I stared at him, ' _He was?_ '

"Been searching for a long time, then things happened and everything went sideways." He walked up to me and crouched down, "But it seems fate brought us together, and we'll keep you safe. Hey, you know what time it is?"

I looked down at my watch, 5:57 PM. I showed Vance and he nodded. "They'll be handing out the rations soon, come on, let's go wait for some dinner." He walked off toward the Civilians and I followed behind him, _'At least the marines here are very nice, Vance, Stephen, not sure about everyone else but they're nice.'_

Vance sat down next to a ring of rocks that I knew where meant for a camp fire. Already some people began to walk up to it with sticks that they had found on the ground, or maybe they had gathered some from nights before, and set them on the spot.

I sat down and watched. After half an hour the fire was up and almost everyone was sitting by it, except for some of the other marines. I sighed and stared at the fire. It was starting to get slightly dark out, the sky was turning orange and the sun was starting to set.

"Everyone here?" Stephen walked up to the fire holding a bag. "I got the MRE's, so I'm passin' em 'round ta'day." He began to walk to each person and hand them a package. Everyone started to heat up their meals and eat. _'I wonder how long they've been here, probably a few days by the looks of it.'_ I looked around at the people sitting by the flickering fire, many of them seemed listless, haggard and edgy, like they hadn't slept in days.

I heard some more talking and I looked over my shoulder, Roman came to join everyone, and the quiet one named Emmanuel too. _'Finally, figured out who he is.'_ Stephen came up and handed me one of the packages, "You need any help with that?" I shook my head and tore the top open, just like Prone had shown me.

I shut my eye's and left the package in my lap, remembering when Prone and I had these meals together, and I didn't have to eat cold corn anymore. When we went to the base, when I was in the Jeep... I could feel the gore on my skin, the smell of blood mixing with the scent of smoke and carnage. That man Vaxer, the sounds of Xaez ripping into his screaming flesh, the crunching of bone punctuating his shrieks. Amy...

I felt sick and held my stomach, the packet falling forgotten to the ground. _'No, no, no.. I don't want to be here...'_ I rocked slightly back and forth, trying to bury my mind.

"Kat," Roman said as he walked up next to me, "Are you alright? Here, let me help you with that." He took the MRE, opened the heating bag, and stuffed the food into it. "Just wait a few minutes and it should be good." He sat down next to me as I stared at the packet cooking on the ground, the smell of the smoke and food everyone was eating mixing together.

I threw up.

"Ah, Kat, geez." Roman held me and rubbed my back trying to comfort me, some of the people around the campfire were glancing over towards us. Stephen got up and came over, "Seems somebodies had a bit too much excitement, how 'bout I bring 'er back to her tent ta rest."

"Alright, I'll.. I'll clean up here and be there in a minute." Roman picked up my MRE and went off, as Stephen led me back towards my tent. _'Xaez is going to be back, he's coming back for me, he won't leave me here...'_ I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes for a few minutes while I waited for Roman to come back.

Time passed, and I started to worry, ' _Whats taking him so long? He said he'd be here in a minute. Did something happen to him? Is Xaez here!'_ Fear clenched my insides as I started getting off the cot.

Roman suddenly came in holding a bottle of water, "Here, I thought you might want something to drink." He handed me the water as I sighed in relief sitting on the cot. "You should get some sleep now, I have to go and talk to the others for awhile, if you need anything just come and get us, ok?" I nodded, he gave me a hug for a moment, then reluctantly went back outside.

I looked at my sleeveless shirt _, 'I'm so stupid.'_ I put on my jacket and vest, then laid back down, resting my head on the pillow. _'Xaez will come back, what if next time something really does happen? I should go before they decide to come...'_

Slowly I drifted off to sleep, thinking of tomorrow.


	16. CH 16: Memories

**Welp now the wait for updates will begin :/ Chapter 17 is being worked on but I have no idea when I'll be able to post it because Mr Editor is not done editing and I don't know when he will be done. That is all, just warning you about the wait now**

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A noise outside woke me up, I didn't know how long I had been asleep but it seemed dark outside, I looked at the tent flaps as they danced gently in the cool breeze.

I got up and walked nervously towards them. Slowly, I pulled one open and peered out. Floodlights bathed sections of the surrounding field creating a perimeter, Sasha and Emmanuel seemed to be on patrol. Everything was so quiet, the only sounds coming from the crickets hidden in the grass. I looked around and tried to see if Roman was anywhere.

I didn't see him, so instead I looked out across the half lit field, the stars shining brightly in the moonless sky. Sasha and Emmanuel continued wandering back and forth, looking a mixture of bored and nervous. I watched them for a time, pacing back and forth as they walked and looked out into the emptiness. Then I noticed it.

The crickets had stopped.

Everything was silent, and a sense of foreboding washed over me, gripping my stomach as I looked out towards the thick darkness between them, towards the black curtain of the forest. _'No.. No he's not here, Xaez can't be here. Not yet, not now!'_

I held my breath looking into the empty expanse for a moment that seemed like it would never come. It was like I could feel something moving, even though all was still.

Sasha snapped up screaming " 'Manuel!"

I looked off to the right to see Emmanuel turn, a Xenomorph peeling out of the shadows as it moved through the air towards him. The moment seemed frozen in time, Sasha raising her rifle, Emmanuel looking across his right shoulder towards it, its claws reaching. Grasping.

And then it was over, it slammed full force into him with its talons gouging through his throat, its momentum and weight crumpling him to the ground, burst fire rippling across its crimson carapace from Sasha's rifle as more shapes traced their way through the light.

All I could do was huddle behind the tent flap, curling it around me like a protective blanket in horror. Sasha roared, laying down fire as she took cover behind some crates, the cries of the people in the other tents piercing the air as shadows decended upon them.

I held my breath and crouched there motionless, my eye's shut. ' _They can't see me, they can't see me if i'm not looking. They can't see me..'_ I curled up to make myself invisible so much it ached, as something swept into my tent and tore through it in a crazed frenzy.

 _'Just go away, go away, I'm not here.. No ones here..'_ The interior of the tent fell motionless, and I could feel it hovering over me, drawing closer. Roman's voice shattered the moment, "Kat, Kat! We have to get out of here! Com'on!" His voice was a harsh whisper of urgency as he helped me up, wrapping his arm's around me.

I wept with a torrent of relief and guilt "I'm sorry, it's all my fault! You have to get out of here!" He looked at me momentarily perplexed, "What? What are you talking about?"

I held him tightly, sobbing the words "Xaez! He's coming! He's coming an-"

He cut me off, "Kat, theres no time for this! We have to get out of here, _now_!" He picked me up and Stephen met us just outside, shouting "Get to the APC!" between shots as he covered our retreat.

I looked around in a daze huddled between Romans arm's and saw Porter and Vance covering some of the civilians from the armored vehicle as they made their way towards them. Dark shapes were everywhere, weaving through each other in and out of the shadows, bursting in sprays of lime as chaotic gunfire lit the night.

We made our way between the tents towards the armored vehicle, but the Xenomorph's were swarming around it. There were a few people inside with Vance and Porter losing ground, Vance holding inside with Porter just outside the doorway. Vance saw us approaching and for a moment waved at us "Come on!"

He didn't see it coming.

A blur reached through the doorway from his left moving between him and Porter, reaching for flesh. Only a split second to react Vance opened fire, too close. Acid bathed Porter's side and back as he fell over screaming in agony, the splash spraying across Vances weapon and arms.

"Vance! I'm comin!" Stephen howled, tearing ahead of us on full auto and making a break for the APC. Roman let go of me and awkwardly raised his rifle, shouting after him "Stephen! Wait!" We stopped short as he fired at shapes closing in around us.

Stephen ran recklessly toward the APC, wildly shooting at any bugs in his path. One emerged on his side and rammed the back of his leg, flipping him over and landing hard on his back. He didn't have time to get up as they flowed over him kicking and screaming.

I stood transfixed at Stephen's rending flesh, Roman's voice a distant echo over his rifle, "Kat! Kat we've got to get out of here!" He looked around frantically for a direction to go, but there was only the suffocating embrace of the night concealing the creatures within.

I heard Sasha yelling off in the distance, viciously holding her ground, blood pouring from open wounds. Hordes of the creatures were illuminated by the faint flicker of gunfire bursting out of the APC's doorway as they undulated through the camp.

Fear drenched my veins as Roman shakily shot at them as they approached, the muzzle flash reflecting the ruby stained grass. There were too many, Roman cried in surprise as something slammed us apart to the ground. I lifted myself on my hands and hysterically looked for Roman through a haze of hair, he yelled as they descended upon him, "Kat! KAT!"

That's when I saw one of them had faint teal markings. "Xaez... Xaez no! NO!" I clenched my hands over my eye's, my shriek mixing with Roman's as they tore into his flesh. His screams piercing me with the crunch of bone and sinew, but none as deep as the sudden silence. I looked up and Xaez was there, viscera and vile spittle dripping from his maw, silhouetted by the endless void.

He turned towards me with feral hunger and threw himself towards me with horrifying speed, jaws reaching for a fatal embrace "Xaez, what're you doing?! No! NOO!" My lungs evoked a guttural shriek as I fell, frantically kicking and knocking over a cot. His shape swept over me, adrenaline fueling me as I thrashed. He shook me fiercely, voices shouting in the distance.

He slammed me into the ground and I laid shaking violently and disoriented, my chest heaving as everything faded back into focus.

I stared perplexed up at Vance kneeling over me.

I looked around and found myself in my tent, the light creeping through the gently waving flaps. Stephen was standing in the opening, Vances voice grabbing my attention, "Hey, hey are you alright? Its okay now, it was just a dream, you're okay now." He got up as Roman rushed in, blurting out questions as he rushed over and wrapped his armed around me.

I clung to him and sobbed uncontrollably into his shirt. I realized that I was soaked in sweat. My heart still thrashing. _'It.. It was just a dream.. Its not real.. Its_ not _real..'_ Roman held tightly and didn't let go as we rocked gently, the black abyss drifting from memory.

"Guess she just had a bad dream." I heard Vance sigh.

"Ya, good thin' it was jus' a dream." Stephen said from just outside, "Ya might wanna check 'er out though, make sure she's a'right."

"She's fine." Roman said flatly, reaching over to help wipe my tears. I let out a shaky sigh, Roman looked at me and helped me to my feet. "You okay?" He asked.

I slowly nodded, still trembling somewhat.

"You gave us quite the scare." Vance said and turned to the tent flaps, "We better go see how things are going out there."

The other's nodded. Vance and Stephen left the tent but Roman stayed behind.

"Do you want to stay in here or do you want to come outside?" He looked down at me. "I don't want to leave you alone either way."

"Outside..." My voice barely a whisper. Roman nodded and took my hand before walking out of the tent.

It was bright and sunny outside and I looked down at my watch, it was 7:34 AM. All the civilians were sitting by a fire eating some MRE's. I had to look away, just looking at them eat made me sick.

 _'Prone...'_ I looked over at Roman. _'I have to leave... I.. I can't let it happen.. I can't.. Xaez won't come if i'm not here, maybe none of them will..'_ Roman looked down at me for a few seconds before heading off toward Porter.

I waited a few minutes, standing, staring at the dirt. I hated not having my weapons, it made me feel so vulnerable. I looked over at Roman, he was still talking to Porter, walking over to them I caught a bit of Roman talking, ".. scared, giving her weapons back may make her feel better."

Porter seemed put out, "We don't need people flipping out and accidentally shooting someone."

"Thats nothing we aren't all already familiar with, nobodies sleeping much these days, and who can blame them? I can't let anything happen to her, she's my sister. What if something _had_ happened?"

Porter sighed "Fine, your responsible for keeping eyes on her. Follow me." Porter walked off toward the APC, I followed behind him, Roman followed too. Once at the hatch, Porter opened it and walked inside. I stood by the doorway, looking into the APC as he went to the front and opened up a box.

He came back holding a Combat knife and what looked like my Pistols. "You be careful with these, ok?" He said before handing them to me. I nodded meekly and put the Pistols in my holsters and combat knife in the sheath on my shoulder strap where it was supposed to be. I looked up at Roman then back at Porter.

"I'll get Sasha to help watch her." Roman smiled down at me, "Do you want to eat something? If your feeling better, considering yesterday."

I thought for a moment. ' _I'm not really hungry though... But if I'm going to leave, I'll need my strength.'_ I nodded, leaving was going to be very hard. _'Leaving Roman... But I need to keep Xaez away from him, it's the only way I can help Roman be safe.'_

We headed off towards the fire where everyone was eating, Stephen was there passing out some of the MRE's for people to eat.

"Hey Rom," Stephen said as we approached him.

"Hey, I want to get Kat something to eat."

"Ya sure? Remember what happened yesterday?" Stephen handed him an MRE.

"Yeah I know, but she needs to eat something, right?"

I nodded again, keeping my head low and trying not to think to much about food.

"Ya well, if she chucks again, I ain't cleanin' it up." Stephen grinned.

"Real funny." Roman grumbled before taking my hand and going to sit with the other people. He began to warm up the MRE and we both sat, watching it. Well, he watched it anyway. Everytime I looked at it my stomach churned and began to ache. I closed my eyes. _'Don't think about it, you don't need to think about it.'_

Once the MRE was done and Roman put it in front of me I tentatively tried taking a few bites while Vance and Stephen came and sat down next to us.

"Look at that." Stephen joked, "She ain't blowin' chunks all over the place."

It got awkwardly quiet for moment, "You can never shut up can you?" Vance stared at him then at Roman. "How is she doing?"

"Better, I think."

"How bout' the scratches? They healin' alright?" Stephen asked.

I glared a little at him, but nodded. "I've wanted to ask..." Roman said putting a hand on my shoulder, "Where did you learn to use those pistols?"

I paused, the memories trying to force their way into my head. I stared at the MRE, the image of Prone in my eyes. "He found me while I was in the lake, the one by our house." I said quietly.

"What? Who found you?" He asked, I just shrugged. I didn't want to talk about it, about what happened.

Roman lowered his head, and asked softly, "Is he... Is he dead?"

I didn't say anything, I just looked blankly at the ground.

Stephen huffed, "Couldn't have been worse than what happened up at the F.O.B. Good thin' we have dogtags, 'cause otherwise there'd be no way of knowin' who we were scrapin' outta' the interior. Like Pulp Fiction up in there."

Vance shook his head with a distasteful look on his face. "Christ, who could've guessed it would be Cortez? Thought he bought it when the shit hit the fan on that scouting run."

"We were there.." Escaped my lips in a faint whisper.

Vance did a little double take, "W-Wait, what? You mean you were there? With him?"

Stephen let out a low whistle, "Well shit on me, don't that beat all."

Tears stolled down my cheeks as I whimpered slightly. I kept my head down, and felt Roman put his arms around me. _'It was Xaez, Xaez was the one to kill him...'_

"Here." Vance said quietly as he rummaged through one of his pockets. "I think he'd want you to have these." I felt the cool metal of some dogtags touch my palm. "He was a good man... I'm sorry."

I stared down at them reading the label. : _Salazar, Cortez._ I closed my hands around the dogtags and sat there in silence. _'Prone... I miss you more than I thought I would... I have to leave this place, if what happened to you happens to Roman or anyone else here, I couldn't live with myself.'_

I put the dogtags around my neck and looked up at Vance wiping the tears away from my eyes, "Thank you..."


	17. CH 17: Crossroads

**Sorry about that guys :P The thing where all that code pops up happens to me sometimes but I'm not sure why. Fixed it for this chapter though :) Again, sorry about that XD**

* * *

It was dusk now and I was sitting in the grass out in the field staring at the trees, planning how I was going to get away without anyone seeing. I stared down at the dogtags Vance had given me, strangling me with the need to leave.

I sighed looking back toward the camp site. Roman was talking to Porter again, and Stephen and Vance were Patrolling. Sasha was walking around with Emmanuel talking to the civilians. And I was left sitting, watching everyone as they busied themselves. It was kind of awkward after talking about Prone, they seemed to want to give me some space after that, though Roman still stayed close.

I didn't really tell them anything after that anyway, what was I supposed to say? Sitting by myself gave me too much time to think about things I didn't want to, so I occupied my mind with ways of getting away. Of keeping Xaez away from them.

 _'I couldn't just up and leave, the others would easily out run me. But maybe I could sneak away?_ I squinted towards the forest trying to pierce through the thick treeline for signs of any movement. The only thing I could see were the tree tops moving in the wind. _'Maybe Xaez has forgotten about me? Although I don't think he ever would... Considering that he followed me even when I was at the base with Prone. I know he can protect me, but I can't let him_ hurt _everyone else...'_

I gripped the Dogtags tightly, my heart twisting with a mixture of volatile emotions. "At least I have something of you to hold on to..." I whispered softly to myself gazing out into the trees.

I sat in the grass for a few more minutes, fidgeting. I could hear people gathering behind me, collecting sticks for the fire. Looking back I saw everyone sitting down, waiting anxiously for the MRE's to be passed around so they could eat. I watched them for a bit and patted the grass with my hands, occasionally ripping a single piece out of the ground and rubbing a finger against it.

I glanced up for a moment and saw Roman looking at me from the APC, it wouldn't be long before he comes over and says I should eat something. _'Guess I should get it over with...'_ Dinner time was getting to be my least favorite time, my stomach felt queasy again at the thought of food. I didn't want to move, I just wanted to sit here quietly. I closed my eyes and breathed in the cool fresh air deeply, it seemed to help.

"Kat" Roman's voice broke the silence, I sheepishly opened my eyes to look up at him. "Are you going to come and eat with us?" He asked crouching down in front of me, "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Nothing..." I mumbled.

He was quiet for a moment, "Look... If you want to talk..."

"About what?" I replied flatly. He looked down at me with a confused look, he opened his mouth as if to say something, but remained silent. I took his hand as he helped me to my feet, and we started walking towards the fire.

Porter was handing out the food this time. I walked up to Stephen, who was too busy stuffing his face to notice us and sat down next to him. Roman joined me and we waited for Porter to hand us our MRE's.

I sat and waited, looking over at Stephen. I had grown to like him and the way he talked, and how he tried to be funny. Stephen glanced over then turned his head to look at me, his mouth moving sloppily as he chewed with his mouth open like a drooling idiot before bursting out laughing and almost choking.

A smile broke my face and I looked back down at my now heated MRE, took it out of the bag and nibbled it. Roman was sitting and staring at his food, like he was lost in his own mind. The other people gathered around the fire were quiet, in the awkward silence the tension was beginning to show. They didn't seem to like the idea of being in one place to long.

Some looked nervously into the shadows with sleepless hollow eyes, fear drenched sweat staining their filthy clothes from days running from memories of things they desperately wanted to forget, but reality wouldn't allow.

Everyone continued to eat in silence, the only thing we could hear were the trees moving in the wind and the occasional sound of what could be an animal. I pushed my nibbled MRE away, Roman took a few more minutes until he finished his before getting up and throwing the crumpled package into a black plastic bag. I left mine there.

People started to drift off, some looking like they were going to get what sleep they could. I looked up at the sky, it was almost completely black now, enough that I could see a few stars. _'Just have to wait another hour or so...'_ I was going to walk back to sit out in the field when I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder, I turned around to see Sasha in my face.

"You no go in field." She said, her voice thick with her accent, "Is dark out, dark is dangerous."

Roman saw us and nervously approached, kneeling in front of me, "Look, Kat... I'm sorry. I know things have been hard, for all of us." He paused a moment, seeming to struggle with the words. "With everything that's happened... Maybe we could talk about it, some time, later. Okay?"

I didn't look at him but whispered "Okay...", more for his sake than mine. I wrapped my arm's around him and hugged him tightly, tears filling my eye's _,'There isn't going to be a later...'_

He got up and I quickly wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my jacket. Sasha seemed amused, "Da, talking later. Time for sleep." They escorted me to my tent, I hugged Roman again and went inside to get ready for bed. Roman seemed to loiter outside on a fold out chair, trying to get into a comfortable position. ' _I guess he's going to keep watch tonight.'_

I climbed under the cots covers and laid there for awhile. I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes, I made sure I kept thinking, eventually opening my eyes again so that I wouldn't fall asleep. I could hear the tent flaps open once and awhile, I almost expected Roman to sit next to my cot and begin talking to me. It wouldn't be long now.

Checking my watch, I began to feel almost excited, or nervous as the time to leave was getting close. I quietly sat up on my cot, and apprehensively began to fill my backpack with all of my stuff.

I packed my flashlight, checked to make sure my food was still in there, and looked down at my p226's. They were still holstered but I wasn't sure if they were actually loaded _._ _'How could I not thought of checking them?'  
_

I unholstered one of the pistols and unloaded the clip, it was filled with bullets. Relieved I reloaded and hosltered it. They never did give back my extra clips when they took my weapons, but I suppose something was better than nothing.

I peeked towards the flaps of the tent, Roman was still sitting out there on watch. I went to the back and lifted up the bottom edge, looking out into the dark. A few of the marines were patrolling, Emmanuel and Vance. I felt a little uneasy not knowing where Sasha was, she seemed to make a point to keep an eye on me.

I grabbed by backpack from my cot and shoved it under the side of the tent. I held my breath, and crawled after it, creeping along the ground to keep from being noticed. My heart was racing and I was shaking. I wormed my way towards the APC to see if the door was open, luckily it wasn't. I knelt by it and headed towards the tent with the boxes that were covered in camouflage.

I rushed behind one of the boxes when I heard Emmanuel walk by. I held my breath and waited for 20 seconds or more until I heard his footsteps fade away. All I had to do now was get to the treeline without being noticed, with the APC and tent for cover I was sure I could do it. I didn't know how long I had until someone noticed I was gone. _'Maybe no one will notice? It's for the best...'_

I edged my way towards the forest, my heart tearing itself out of my rib cage. I spun around as a voice ripped through the sound of crickets, "Kat... _What are you_ _doing out here?_ "

It was Roman.

I stood there panicking, trying to think of something, _anything_.

"Kat, wh... What are you doing out here? It's dangerous out here, we..." His voice died as he spotted my backpack. "Wh... What? Wait... What are you doing? Where are you going? Why!?"

I bit my lip until I tasted blood, "Roman, I... I have too."

His face contorted in confusion, "You have to!? What the hell does that mean?! Why would you have to leave? I thought you were dead Kat, I thought I'd lost everything I ever cared about. It was my fault for letting you run away, _I_ should have kept a better eye on you, _I_ should have been there for you after what happened, _I_ should have protected you damn it! I only just got you back and you think I'm just going to let you run away again?"

Tears broke through my eye's, "N-No, I-"

"No? Then what the hell are we doing out here Kat? Do you even think about how this effects everyone else? What am I supposed to tell everyone, what am I supposed to tell Dad? Wh-"

I stood there, rivers of pain streaking my cheeks, " _Dad's_ _dead!_ Just like everybody else! And if I stay you'll die too!" The argument was starting to draw attention from the camp, flashlights and shouting in the distance were turning towards us.

" _Bullshit!_ He's not dead! I saw him leave on the chopper! I-"

"You don't know that! _He's_ _dead!_ He's dead just like Mom! Have you heard from him? Have you heard from _anybody?!_ "

" _He's not dead!_ I'm not going to lose you again Kat, I'm not going to let you die out there!"

I shrieked as Roman suddenly lunged towards me grabbing my arm, the dogtags around my neck rattling as I tried to shove him away, "No! It's not like that! Xaez-"

"Xaez? What the hell is that? Don't you understand those things out there will kill you! If Stephen and the others hadn't caught you when they did you'd be dead right now!"

 _"No!_ It's not like that! He's my friend, I gave him marks and everything!"

"Wh-What are you talking about!? What is that, some kind of imaginary friend? This is real life Kat! Emmanuel, Stephen, Porter, they can keep you safe!" He grabbed the dogtags, "Just like Prone would have..."

I stood there frozen, my face twisted as I uttered with flat intensity, _"He_ killed _Prone_."

He blinked, stunned and confused.

I wrenched myself free, sobbing as I ran for the treeline. My legs pounding the dirt and grass in step with my heartbeat, weaving between the tree's. I cried out as I fell to the ground gasping for air and weeping uncontrollably, sure that he wouldn't be far behind.

I laid there for what seemed like forever. No one came.

Then I heard a faint hiss, and frantically looked around to see Xaez curled around a nearby tree, looking at me. A wave of despair washed over me. _'He's here.. Just like I knew he would be...'_

I wrapped my arms around my legs and stared at him, mumbling, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Roman... Xaez won't leave me... He'll keep me safe, won't you Xaez?"

He slipped down from the tree and crawled in front of me, making a low growling sound mixed with a hiss. He wasn't even grinning.

Slowly, he began to walk past me, deeper into the woods.

 _'I bet he's mad... I've left him so many times now...'_ I wiped away some of the tears that were still running down my face then looked back toward the camp site. I grabbed Prones dogtags around my neck, whispering quietly, "I'm sorry..." before turning to follow Xaez into the night.


	18. CH 18: Crumbling Remnant

My legs ached.

Xaez and I had been walking for most of the night. My feet dragged across the leaves of the forest floor as I stumbled through the woods. We hadn't come across any other Xenomorphs, but I could tell they were there.

I was tired from walking and lack of sleep. _'I wish I could've stayed with Roman... I'm probably never going to see him again now. Is he going to come looking for me? I hope he doesn't, Xaez would kill him, Xaez would kill everyone...'_ I remembered what Prone had told me about Xenomorphs, about how dangerous and cunning they were. _'Would Xaez ever trick me? Doesn't seem like he would but Prone said they trick people'_

I stared ahead, eye's glazed at Xaezstrolling along ahead of me through the brush. He was being quiet other than random hissing and heavy breathing. I was used to him doing that by now.

' _Why... Why did I have to leave..? Because if I didn't Roman would be dead, dead just like Prone. Xaez was waiting for me, I can't go back and see him, see if he's alright. It's too late now... But as long as Xaez is with me, Roman will be safe... Right?'_

I could hear a subtle growl escape from Xaez's mouth. He looked back at me for a moment, teeth bared but not threateningly, he looked away a few moments later to gaze at the forest once more.

 _'Xaez made me leave Roman, if I had never found him I'd be with Roman now, I wouldn't be here following a Xenomorph and not knowing where I'm going.'_ My hands formed into fists and I clenched my teeth together, _'this is their fault, his fault! I could've been safe without him, but I can't go back now... can't go back to the way it was... can't go back to anything... I need him, and I can't go back because of him... It didn't have to be this way..'._ My hands clenched Prone's dog tags.

Rage and hopelessness boiled within as I looked up at Xaez, 'H _e took me away from them. I should've stayed with Roman, at least... at least we would have had each other in the end.. Why? Why couldn't Xaez just let me go?!'_ With a grunt of frustration my hands lashed out, fists smashing against jagged tree bark; kicking and pounding, warm relief flowing from sharp pain. Pain that wasn't sick, that didn't feel like throwing up until there was nothing left inside.

Xaez twisted around lightning fast to look at me as I beat my fist into the tree again. The sound he made almost sounded like a mix of a growl and a bark when he saw me.

It hurts.

But its better than knowing that I'll never see Roman again, Mom, Dad, my friends, my home. That it will never be the way it was ever again. My mind drifted towards my mother, flashing to her final moments screaming as she dissolves in acid, blood creeping across the floor.

"NO!" I gasped, shaking violently. I smashed my fist against the tree, sweet pain and anger to drive away the memories, to stay in the here and now. Part of me wished I could join her, for it all to be over. To just stop hurting.

Sharp pain stung my fingers and wrist from the impact and I cried out. Xaez was wrapped around the tree and stared down at me impassively throughout. I couldn't hold it anymore, my hate flowing.

"Why did I have to go?!" I screamed, "Why do I have to listen to you!?"

He remained silent, his tail flicked absently as though I should already know the answer. It only seemed to make me angrier, I wanted so much to hit him, but a part of me knew how it would end. Part of me didn't care. My hands thrashed and clawed at the tree over and over again, Xaez lazily wound himself around higher up out of reach, tilting his head and hissing softly.

I smashed my fist once more into the tree then closed my eyes and ground my teeth together to try and ease the stinging. Tears rolled down my cheeks but I ignored them, refusing to let my sorrow overcome my anger.

"Why! Why did you kill Prone?! Why are you even here!? You... You killed Roman too didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!?" My lips blurted out what my heart dare not ask and I collapsed sobbing, broken as the words rang in my ears.

I looked up at Xaez. He was watching with that grin of his.

"Are you going to kill me now too?" I yelled at him. _'Maybe he's afraid, I have my guns, I could shoot him if I want to...'_ I shook my head, _'But I can't kill him... I've tried and wanted to before but I couldn't... he's my friend, but he does so many bad things... that's what I always tell myself.'_

I turned back to face the tree, feeling my blood warm with anger again. "Why did I have to find you?! You should've died..."

Xaez clicked nonchalantly as I pulled my combat knife and lunged at the tree stabbing it over and over, grunting in frustration.

Screaming in rage I slashed at other trees, anything in reach. Tears uncontrollably flowing down my face, I couldn't stop screaming even when I was out of breath. I felt insane, unable to control myself, breaking down into some crazy state; it was almost as if someone else was stabbing at the tree's and screaming so loud their voice cracked.

I hacked at the trees for what felt like hours until my anger died out, and I fell sobbing and shaking the knife dropping in the dirt next to me. Sniffling and taking short gasps for air, almost choking on my own tears. I gave up.

"Roman... Roman I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry... It's all my fault... " I ran out of tears, sobs wracking my body as I lay there. Frustration, anger, despair, all melting into a void of empty, lifeless eyes. This is here. This is now. There's no going back. Xaez, where will we go? I don't know, but there's nothing left.

I could barely move my fingers, covered in red. I looked at my hands for awhile under the tree, the blood gently dappled roots and dirt, _'Maybe its not so bad, in the end..'._ The wounds throbbed, but didn't hurt much.

I looked away from him and wiped the dry tears away from my eyes before looking back up at the forest around me. The tree I lay against was gouged as though by a wild animal, I wondered how I was able to even do that. I looked down to see all the debris lying around me, some stuck to my pants and jacket and others littered my shoes.

Sniffling a bit more and coughing slightly as I tried to get up, the world suddenly began to spin and I had a strange feeling of sleepiness take over, my eyes became heavy and closed almost uncontrollably, feeling my body slumping onto the ground with a thud, I wondered what was happening before sleep claimed me.

The sound of roaring thunder was my wake up call. My hand's ached, I could feel rain drops touch my face. I sat up, my hands stiff and sore, shaking as cool wind cut through me. I looked around for the one thing I didn't really want to see.

Xaez was nestled near a fallen tree a few feet away from me, curled up and blending with his surroundings. It seemed to be his resting position from what I had remembered from before. I could see his breath in the mix of the rain which fascinated me a bit and blew out a breath of my own to find out if it was the same for me. It was, only his seemed different in some way.

I looked away from him to peer up at the sky.

It was covered in ominous black and grey clouds, no sun in sight. Some area's made bright flashes, I knew it was lightning and ignored it after hearing the loud clap of thunder in it's wake. I'd always liked the rain, but it was cold and I had no shelter. Taking a deep breath was refreshing, but the chill bit sharply.

He hadn't moved, just continued to lay there, almost looking lifeless.

I was tired, I didn't know the last time I ate. I didn't care. I crawled over next to him, closing my eye's. I don't know how much time passed, but I enjoyed the rain, the smell, and the flashes of lightning. I didn't care that I was soaking wet now, after awhile everything went numb and I just watched the sky churn.

Looking down at my hands, the rain had washed some of the blood off. The scratch marks still stung but I could move them a bit more. I rubbed them together to get the blood off to examine the scratches. Some looked bad, others seemed fine but it didn't really matter.

Xaez stirred, letting out a low hiss. He slithered out and looked towards me, then turned and began to walk.

I struggled to my feet, and stumbled after him. "Xaez," I said. He looked back at me but didn't stop walking. "I'm sorry..." I lowered my head and Xaez almost seemed to nod at my apology before facing forward again. _'I don't think he cares or maybe he does but he just doesn't want to pay attention to it... he'll forgive me... he always does...'_

The wind was starting to pick up, causing the trees to sway side to side, I could hear things snapping in the distance and for a moment I thought I was going to start freezing but remembered that I was shielded by the trees. _'I hope we don't walk into a field anytime soon'_ I thought and focused back to Xaez.

I watched him some more as he continued to walk, I no longer worried about the markings fading because even in the rain they didn't wash off. It was strange to see how his carapace almost seemed to glow in the rain, the water running from the top of his head to drip off the sides looked like sparkles or even like stars in the night sky.

As I followed him I didn't think of Roman or any other person, just paying attention to the rain and where my feet were going and to Xaez. Only those; nothing else mattered.


	19. CH 19: After This Day

My shoes were covered in mud and my soaking wet clothes were starting to irritate me. Xaez was happily walking on the slippery mud as if it was nothing while I slipped once in a while. A few times I had to grab onto a tree to prevent myself from falling, and once I even had to grab onto him.

I was wishing the rain would stop now, it was nice at first but when it didn't stop after a while I just got angry and frustrated. "Xaez, when are we going to get there?" He ignored me, it was probably the third time I had asked that same question.

Grumbling, I crossed my arms and continued to trudge through the mud. I was happy the wind and lightning had died down but the rain was still going strong. ' _Stupid weather.'_ It was good I finally had other things to think about, mainly how to keep myself warm and try not to whine to Xaez when he didn't listen.

Xaez looked back at me, his head lowered, he didn't seem to mind the rain one bit. I still enjoyed watching the sparkly rain drops drip off his head, it made it look like he was sort of drooling.

"We there yet?" I asked again, putting my cut up hands under my arm pits and shivering slightly. I had lost track of time a while ago, not being able to remember how long we had been walking or how far we had gone, not that it mattered.

Xaez made a snorting-like sound and ended with a low long hiss before turning forward and raising his head up a bit. He stood like that for a moment before lowering it and continued his walking. Just now I began to notice the sound his feet made whenever they hit the mud, a low "flop, flop, flop" sound.

I tested to see if my feet made the same sound only to hear squishing. Frowning, I tried to warm myself and chased after Xaez, who had walked quite a bit farther ahead. He abruptly stopped and I ran right into him, causing me to yelp and an irritated growl from Xaez as he looked at me.

"Sorry..." I said quietly before slowly getting up. Xaez stood where he was for a moment but once I was up he then, quite gracefully, leapt up onto the nearest tree and crawled along it and paused at a branch to peer down at me once again.

I just stared right back, unsure on what to do. He beckoned with his head, which I guess meant for me to follow, and he continued his graceful leaping from tree to tree. Sighing, I watched him as I followed at a steady jog. I didn't want to lose sight of him but the rain was making it difficult when it went into my eyes, I had to squint and find the blur that would be him.

He occasionally screeched when I lost sight of him and when I had to stop to see clearly again, I would just follow the sound of his screeches until I could see him perched up in the trees again.

Xaez had stopped and was standing on his back legs, perked up at his full height, he seemed to be looking at something in the distance and sniffing the air. He then made one of the loudest, fiercest screeches I had ever heard.

I screamed, covering my ears to protect them from the ear-piercing screech. He screeched like that for what felt like forever before he stopped and went back on all fours. Irritated, I removed my hands from my ears and glared at him. _'What was that about?'_

He turned his head in my direction and sniffed and growled, he then continued on his way, running straight ahead. Now he wasn't waiting for me either. "Xaez!" I yelled and sprinted after him, always having to wipe the water away from my eyes as I ran. "Wait!"

I had tripped and slipped multiple times in the mud and a few times my pistols had fallen out of my pockets. Panicking, I'd search all over the ground trying to find them and as soon as I did I holstered them and took off in the direction Xaez had been going in. I constantly cried out his name in hopes that he'd come back but he never did.

At one point I thought I had completely lost him because I could no longer hear the trees snapping or creaking from him jumping on them, or seeing his blur anywhere. So I stopped, trying to listen to my surroundings in hopes of hearing him. I was disappointed to only hear the sound of the rain. My eyes began to water and I sat down in the dirt, staring at fallen branches and puddles in front of me.

 _'He left me?'_ I thought as my tears threatened to run down my cheeks. _'Why would he just leave like that? Maybe he got tired of me complaining? Or he just doesn't want me around now?'_ I shook my head, trying to think clearly. _'No, why would he wait for me while I was at that camp just to leave me a day after? He's still here. He's going to come back. He always does... I just have to wait.'_

So I did. I sat in the mud, the rain still falling hard and making me shiver. I kept my head down, looking at the dirt as the rain drops hit it and I tried not to think of anything else. I didn't want to think about anything. Every time I did my heart would ache and my head began to throb so bad that I'd grab it and try to resist screaming.

Maybe ten or fifteen minutes later I began to hear a few small screeches from the direction ahead of me. I looked up, curious of if it could be Xaez or just any other Xenomorph. I stood up and walked toward the screech. Keeping my hand near my holster just in case I needed my pistol.

I continued to listen and followed the consistent screeches. At this point, I didn't care if it was just another Xenomorph, I could kill it and continue sitting and waiting for Xaez to return again. _'I really do hope it's just him though.'_

As I followed the sounds they became louder and knowing that I was getting closer I began to speed up to a jog. In my right hand my pistol, in the left, my combat knife. It took a few minutes before I knew that the Xenomorph would be in eyes sight. Only problem was, I couldn't see it. It should've been right where I was looking, that was where the screeching was coming from anyway.

But nothing was in sight. "Wha-?" I whispered to myself, that's when the screeching stopped. I stood frozen in place, trembling from fear and from being cold. I tried listening to the sounds around me to see if I could pick up any more hissing or screeching.

There was a furious growl that came from behind and I swung around to see a Xenomorph crawl down the tree that was now right in front of me. There was no markings on it so I immediately aimed my pistol at it.

The Xenomorph made it to the ground and, from all fours, looked up at me with a grin. Slowly it began to hiss at me, its teeth baring and either spittle or rain dripping down its maw. I suddenly found myself hissing back at it, making the exact same sound as it had, but I stopped as soon as I realized what I was doing.

Shaking my head I aimed my pistol directly at the head of the creature just as it seemed to want to pounce on me, its front claws raising from the ground and its back legs tensing as it prepared to leap. I didn't even have a second thought, I shot it, and before it could even do anything it flopped to the ground, lifeless.

I let out a tired and chilled sigh and just stood where I was, watching as the Xenomorphs remains began to dissolve the branches and grass, as its acid blood missed with the puddles of rain. A few minutes later there was another hiss and I turned my head to see Xaez, he was standing and looking at the dead Xenomorph, then back at me.

Unfazed, he beckoned with his head to follow. I scanned the trees before doing as he wanted. This time he actually waited, he walked slowly until I caught up before he started to walk faster again.

"Xaez." I said quietly. He turned his head toward me, continuing his walking as he did so. "Where are we going?" My voice trembled just as my body did, I was freezing. My nose was running and I had goose bumps everywhere.

Xaez growled and looked forward again, picking up his pace as I kept up with him.

It was another 10 minute walk before I finally realized where he was actually taking me. We had both just arrived at the edge of the tree line and right in front of me was a town, what looked like a completely deserted town.

 _'This was where he was taking me?'_ I looked over at Xaez then back at all the houses. "Come on!" I yelled and sprinted toward the nearest house, I didn't even care about my own safety at this moment. I was cold, and all I wanted to do was be warm again.

The first house I ran into was in horrible condition. As soon as I burst through the door I could see that it was barely holding onto its hinge. There was a hallway that lead to another door and stairs right in front of me. To the right, a kitchen with brown-stained counters and a broken table laying on the floor, and a wide open fridge. Even from the hallway I could smell the moldy food from within. To the left was a living room. It didn't even have any carpet, just concrete, and there was faded grey wallpaper slowly falling from the concrete walls. Good news was though, that there was a fireplace with an old stack of wood to the side of it.

First thing I did was roam the house, searching for blankets or anything else to keep myself warm with. While I wandered around the house it looked as if it had been set on fire once, some of the wallpaper seemed to be stained black from smoke and in some of the rooms items looked charred and burnt.

For a moment, I wondered what had happened to this house, and when it had been set on fire, but I quickly hid the thought as another shiver ran down my spine. I ravaged through every room, searching for anything that would keep me warm. There was only one bedroom, with a double bed and a pink polka dotted blanket scattered onto it.

I grabbed it and sprinted down the stairs to the living room. I laid the blanket out on the concrete and threw my backpack aside and took off my soaking wet clothes as fast as possible. I gently laid my holster and vest down right next to the blanket.

I had remembered reading or being told that you could get hypothermia if you keep on your wet clothes in the cold. As soon as I took off my clothes, leaving me just in my underwear, I felt a bit better and wrapped myself up in the blanket. It was the best feeling I could ever ask for at this moment.

I sat up against the wall and shook violently but was enjoying the soft blanket. I slowly lifted my hands to look at them and my eyes widened as soon as I saw them. They were as white as snow just as I continued to stare at them I began to feel pain rack up my fingers.

Holding back a cry I quickly put my hands into my armpits. I remembered learning how armpits were one of the warmest parts of your body and so far I believed that completely, as soon as my hands where there I began to feel the warmth and the pain began to subside slightly.

I let out a sigh of relief and continued to sit against the wall, constantly shivering.

Xaez had just crawled into the house, he peered over at me and hissed before going to the living room window that was just across from me. He looked out of it, putting his weight on the end of it with his upper arms, almost like a dog. He stood like that, just staring out the window. After some time passed, maybe twenty minutes or so, Xaez let out a very quiet and menacing growl and crawled out of the house once again.

There was now a puddle that formed on the floor where he had stood, the puddle mixed with the one my clothes had made as well.

Realizing that if I just left my clothes on the ground they wouldn't get dry at all, I stood up and was about to pick them up when the fire place came to mind. I stopped and looked over at it. _'Oh my god, if I had a lighter I could make a fire!'_ Excited, I ran to my backpack and unzipped it. I dug through everything I had, my food, a flash light, and a few other things. _'Ugh!'_ There was no lighter.

I put the food over by the blanket and stuffed everything else back into my backpack. I raided the house. Throwing things while I checked under them, took out drawers and opening all the cabinets as I searched for a lighter.

As soon as I found one I smiled so much and tried to get it to work. Sparks would fly but it wouldn't actually make a flame. "Why aren't y-?" I spoke quietly to myself as I held it to my ear and shook it. I couldn't hear any of the inner contents swooshing around so I screamed and tossed it toward the nearest wall. Grumbling of why it would be empty, I continued my search.

There was nothing, no other lighters in sight. Sighing I looked outside the living room window. I had completely forgotten about the coldness as I was angry at the fact there was no working lighter. I stared at the house across from the one I was currently in. _'I could just head over there and look for one? But it's still raining... Whatever...'_ I walked toward the front door, ready to run out and sprint to the other house. I wasn't afraid of being seen in my underwear because I didn't think anyone else would be in this city.

Cursing under my breath, which was the first time I had ever sworn before, I opened the door and sprinted, making a quick dash to the house across the street. Half way across the road I noticed a foolish mistake. I didn't have my knife or P226.

I was going to stop but decided better of it because having to run back to run across the road again was a waste of time and not worth the cold. I arrived at the door of the house and knocked on it as hard as I could. Putting my ear to it, I listened to any sounds of someone, or something, moving inside. There was no sound so, carefully, I opened the door and stepped inside.

This house was almost identical to the one I had been it, only there were no stairs that led to an upstairs but near the living room there was a door that when I opened it, led to the basement. It was pitch black so I didn't dare go down, instead I stared into it for a few seconds before getting a creepy feeling and slamming the door.

It reminded me of all the times when Roman and I would be in the basement playing some board games and would have to go upstairs for dinner or to go to bed. We were always told to turn off the lights when we were supposed to go up. Every time we turned off the lights I would sprint up the stairs on all fours, always afraid of something about to grab me and pull me back into the darkness. There was one time I had just turned off the lights before running up the stairs, I had looked back into the pitch black basement to make sure there was nothing there, except, I thought I had seen something move. A chill had run down my spine and I freaked out, running straight up the stairs. Ever since then I was petrified to go back into the basement alone and refused to turn off the lights unless someone was with me.

That same chill ran down my spine as I thought about the darkness I had just stared into. Letting out a long, calming breath I turned my attention back to trying to find a lighter.

Turning the house upside down I was able to find three. Two in one of the bedrooms and another in the kitchen. One of the lighters didn't work so I threw it on the ground and tried to get the others to work. There was one with a handle and nozzle that I tried to use first, I couldn't figure it out and guessed that this one had a child block feature I didn't know how to get passed. The other lighter, a typical one that you'd normally see, actually worked.

"Yes!" I yelled. I grabbed the strange nozzled lighter and the one that worked and took off back to the other house. I didn't stop or look around to see if anything was watching me from outside, I just wanted to get to the house.

I opened the door as fast as I could and closed it behind me before running to the fireplace. I set the lighters down and grabbed the old wood and put it into the fireplace. Then I sat there, staring at it. _'I can't light it without paper...'_ I then scanned the living room for anything I could possibly use to light on fire.

That's when I saw the wallpaper, it was already slightly torn off the wall. "YES!" I yelled and laughed as I jumped as high as I could to grab the loose paper, I tore it off the wall, trying to get as much of the paper as I could. I went along it, ripping off as much as I could until I couldn't reach any or tear anymore off.

I dragged the wallpaper next to the fireplace and grabbed the working lighter. I ignited the lighter and set some of the wallpaper on fire before throwing it into the fireplace with the wood. I sat and watched it, throwing more wallpaper into the pit before the wood finally caught on fire.

It took awhile, but eventually the fire got bigger and I sat, facing the fire, with the blanket around me. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't, I had to stay awake because if I slept I would have a nightmare or be killed. "Xaez, will you please come back here..." I whispered, I wanted his company more than anything.

My heart was hurting as I remembered Roman and the camp, and I felt pain in my hands which could've been caused from the cold or when I had punched those trees. All I knew was that I was hurting. I just wanted Xaez. I wanted him to be right next to me.

I sighed, staring at the fire, hoping that I'd be warmer soon. _'My clothes!'_ I stood up quickly, looking for my pile of clothes, it was still where I had left it. I picked everything up, ringed it out as much as I could, and laid them all out in front of the fire. I made sure they were all spread apart so that the heat could dry them easily.

Afterwards, I looked at my backpack, contemplating whether or not I should eat... or more if I _could_ eat. I didn't risk it, knowing that thoughts that lingered in my head might come up, and sat back down by the fire, cocooning myself into the blanket as I did so.

Time went by, not sure how much, but I was sitting and staring at the fire for a very long time, unmoving. Just observing as the flames danced in a mix of yellow, orange and white. I would occasionally add a new piece of wood or more wallpaper when the flames seemed to die. I felt warmer, but felt far too tired to do anything other than just sit and wait.

The front door creaked behind me and then I heard a _thud,_ followed by a hiss. I looked over my shoulder to see the door on the ground and Xaez looking at it before looking at me. _'Well the hinge' broke'_. He hissed once more and then let out a loud snarl.

"What?" I asked him, he was looking passed me, at the fire. I looked at him, than the fire, and back "What's wrong?". Xaez snarled again and slowly crawled forward, eying the fire the whole time. He crawled to one of the corners of the room and laid down there, constantly facing the flames as if to make sure it wasn't going to do anything.

I ignored him and faced the fire again, _'At least he came back' ._ I still wanted to sleep, my eyes felt heavy, I felt as if I wouldn't be able to stand. _'Maybe I should sleep... Xaez is back... He'll protect me... He always does...'_ I could feel myself trying to sleep. _'I'm not going t-'_

Xaez was right in my face when I woke up, looking down at me. I was lying flat on my back staring at him for a few seconds before getting up onto my knees and looking around. _'I passed out?'_ That was the only thing on my mind. I couldn't tell how much time had passed but the fire was still going, although it was much smaller. Looking out the window, I could see the rain had stopped and the sun was out.

I looked at Xaez for a moment. I pat his head and then turned and crawled to my clothes that were still by the fire. They were damp but wearable. I put them on, and grabbed my backpack. My holster and vest felt heavier than usual in my arms but I still put them on; it felt as if I had just strapped a brick to my chest and waist.

I attempted to stand but had to grab onto Xaez to help pull myself up. I was still feeling tired and weak, but better than I was before. My first few steps were wobbly and zigzagged but Xaez's tail helped to steady me.

I held onto Xaez as we walked toward the door and exited the house. Looking up at the sky there was the rain clouds in the distance and what looked like more to come. But it didn't look like it'd arrive for at least another hour.

I scanned the area again. Before, I was only focused on getting warm again so I never paid attention to the surroundings until now. There were buildings and houses everywhere, definitely a city, some of the buildings, not many, had black stuff on them.

My mind flashed right back to the time Prone and I were in that tunnel, right before we entered there was that same black goo stuff on the outside. I covered my eyes and shook my head to try and get the thought out of my head. _'NO! Don't remember! Don't remember him, it'll just hurt'._ I looked away and up at Xaez. ' _Don't remember.'_

Xaez looked down at me and let out a quiet hiss and started walking off toward the buildings with the goo. I silently followed him, grabbing onto his tail for support as I continued walking. My legs were sore and aching, but I had to keep going, keep going until we got to where we were going.

I just had a feeling that after this day, I wouldn't need to walk anymore.


End file.
